If You Can't Laugh When Things Go

I Did A Couple Of Writing Seminars In Canada With High School Kids. These Were The Bright Kids; They All Have Computers, But They Can't Spell. Because Spell-check Won't [help] You If You Don't Know Through From Threw. I Told Them, "if You Can Read In The 21st Century, You Own The World." Because You Learn To Write From Reading.

I Have Spent A Good Many Years Since―too Many, I Think―being Ashamed About What I Write. I Think I Was Forty Before I Realized That Almost Every Writer Of Fiction Or Poetry Who Has Ever Published A Line Has Been Accused By Someone Of Wasting His Or Her God-given Talent. If You Write (or Paint Or Dance Or Sculpt Or Sing, I Suppose), Someone Will Try To Make You Feel Lousy About It, That's All.

Her Body Was Wrapped In Shadows Like Moth Wings, Like Rose-petals.

I Don't Really Get Philosophical, But I Believe That Nice People Are Strong And Usually In My Horror Stories, I Don't Like To Write About The Old Standard Where Some Rotten Guy Gets Chased By A Mean Spirit That Gets Him In The End.i'd Rather Write About Nice People That Are Menaced From Outside By Some Sort Of Evil Power And Who Sort Of Slug It Out.

I Like To Write Short Stories More Because I Never Met A Writer Who Wasn't Lazy. And A Short Story Is, By Its Very Definition, Short. It Is Something That Generally You Can Turn Out In A Week To Two Weeks Depending On How Well It Goes For You. But, At The Same Time, It Gives The Same Satisfaction Of Creating A Complete World.