"What people SHOULD preface their rule-dispensing [for creative pursuits] with is something like this: 'Hey, this is the way it worked for me.  Maybe it'll work for you too?  And if not, no worries.  We're still pals.'"

"I try to share what I've learned with other magicians, just as mentors did with me.  Magicians talk quite freely about secrets within the industry, but we don't share anything with people outside of the industry.  I actually believe magicians should talk about their secrets with the public more than they do.  By keeping our art form completely secret, we're actually devaluing it."

"The arts are strong and will endure, but artists need and deserve our support.  Nourish the arts, and they will nourish us right back."

"In a climate that discourages innovation, scientists have adopted new roles as dissenters and protesters.  As they unite and march, they find new allies in the arts and humanities that have long spoken truth to power."

"Arts education in public school is as essential as sports and math.  It's where we learn how to be people in collaboration with other people."

"I've seen teenagers just come alive with energy and joy when given the opportunity to express themselves creatively."

"If there were a manifesto for 21st century fiction writers, I hope it would go like this: Down with high-flown literature! Cast off genre servitude! The revolution is founded in authorial liberty. It regards story and art as equals."

"How many people could tell you how much money they’ve given to their favourite artists or writers or creators? Not to platforms, not to businesses, to actual creatives?"

"All these [sf genre] magazines pride themselves on publishing stories from new writers. What doesn't get told quite as often is that they survive by discovering new writers."

"I can spend weeks without mentioning to anyone that I'm a writer.  I'm a minority these days, but I'm not certain it's a good thing for writers to spend a lot of time with other writers.  Solidarity and community are essential—I am not arguing against either—but when the majority of your friends are writers ... that seems to work for a lot of people, but that shit's just not for me."

"You're very fortunate if you have a partner who understands what you do and who works with you through the struggle of making and wanting to make."

"Encouragement gives writers the confidence to take risks in their work rather than play it safe.  It helps writers go to unexpected places in the work."

"The only reason I was asked to edit this volume [of The Best American Short Stories] was because someone out there in the world was equally conscientious and didn't let this nobody writer slip between the cracks."

"The movies have not undermined the influence of fiction.  On the contrary, they have extended its field, carrying the ideas which are already current among readers to those too young, too impatient, or too uneducated to read."

"I believe I have the right to think and say the wrong things. I believe your remedy for that should be to argue with me or to ignore me, and that I should have the same remedy for the wrong things that I believe you think."

The Great Discontent

The View from the Cheap Seats

"Share your Must, and in so doing, lift the lives of others. ... When you choose Must, you inspire others to choose it, too."

"Explaining what you do and how you do it to the young and enthusiastic, while showing them how to nurture their own talents, can reignite your own writing passion."

"Creativity begets creativity.  I always feel more creative after I've helped children explore their own artistic talents."

"I feel strongly that we're only hurting ourselves as writers by being so secretive about money. There's no other job in the world where you get your master's degree in that field and you're like, well, you might make zero or you might make $5 million! We don't have any standards in that way, and we probably never will. There will always be such a wide range of what writers are paid, but at least we could give each other information."