Do Not Cut Lose From Your Longings

… That Sour Blend Of Loneliness And Lust For Recognition, Shyness And Extravagance, Deep Insecurity And Self-intoxicated Egomania, That Drives Poets And Writers Out Of Their Rooms To Seek Each Other Out, To Rub Shoulders With One Another, Bully, Joke, Condescend, Feel Each Other, Lay A Hand On A Shoulder Or An Arm Round A Waist, To Chat And Argue With Little Nudges, To Spy A Little, Sniff Out What Is Cooking In Other Pots, Flatter, Disagree, Collude, Be Right, Take Offence, Apologise, Make Amends, Avoid Each Other, And Seek Each Other’s Company Again.

Words Create Conceptions And Self-conceptions And Ultimately Nations. They Can Start And Stop Wars. They Can Would And Heal. Choosing Words Carefully Is A Moral Responsibility.

Writing A Poem Is Like Having An Affair, A One-night Stand; A Short Story Is A Romance, A Relationship; A Novel Is A Marriage-one Has To Be Cunning, Devise Compromises, And Make Sacrifices.

I Don't Write Novels About Expeditions To The Planet Mars Because I Haven't Been There And I Don't Know Anything About It.

Don't Write About That Which You Don't Know.