What Is False Won't Fit

Writing Is Like Flying an Airplane

"[The airplane pilot] said, 'Why do you think I do this job?  It's for the seven minutes of takeoff and the 11 minutes of landing.  The computer does the rest.'  And to me, that's like writing.  You do it because you get this great idea, and you have the excitement of the first draft, but most of it is revision, and doing the wrong stuff, and fixing and fixing.  And then, you get the landing.  It's very much the same."

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."

Imagine Yourself as an Artist

"I've adjusted my thinking to imagine myself as an artist. I don't know why that made such a huge difference, but it did. An artist in a studio, working. Not the author of the book in the store, but the person in her house, pursuing a thought or character or image and trying to wring something meaningful from it."

Exploiting Writers

"There are plenty of places that are built on the business model of exploiting writers by not paying them.  Are you going to let them do that to you?"

Exercise in Sculpture