From Where You Dream

Back the Hell Off

"You have to tell your mind to back the hell off. It's another place in yourself entirely where you must look to create a work of art."

You Cannot Flinch

"When you write, you cannot flinch. You have to go down into that deepest, darkest, most roiling, white-hot place ... whatever scared the hell out of you down there—and there's plenty—you have to go in there; down into the deepest part of it, and you can't flinch, can't walk away. That's the only way to create a work of art—even though you have plenty of defense mechanisms to keep you out of there, and those defense mechanisms are going to work against you mightily."

Spontaneity Is the Art

"If something happens in those spontaneous moments of writing that's different than my outline, I go with the spontaneity, and change the outline to suit it.  Because the spontaneity, that's the art.  My intentions are the craft, right?  That's what I'm trying to do.  But what is being done is where the magic is."

Bob and Weave

"As a writer, it's like you're a fighter in the ring.  You have to bob and weave and juke and move and change direction and tactics all the time based on what your instincts are telling you about what's happening on the page."

Drawing on the Power of Resonance in Writing