The Trick Is Not Becoming A Writer.

Writing Is The Hardest Work In The World. I Have Been A Bricklayer And A Truck Driver, And I Tell You – As If You Haven't Been Told A Million Times Already – That Writing Is Harder. Lonelier. And Nobler And More Enriching.

It Is Not Merely Enough To Love Literature If One Wishes To Spend One's Life As A Writer. It Is A Dangerous Undertaking On The Most Primitive Level. For, It Seems To Me, The Act Of Writing With Serious Intent Involves Enormous Personal Risk. It Entails The Ongoing Courage For Self-discovery. It Means One Will Walk Forever On The Tightrope, With Each New Step Presenting The Possiblity Of Learning A Truth About Oneself That Is Too Terrible To Bear.

Everybody Has Opinions: I Have Them, You Have Them. And We Are All Told From The Moment We Open Our Eyes, That Everyone Is Entitled To His Or Her Opinion. Well, That's Horsepuckey, Of Course. We Are Not Entitled To Our Opinions; We Are Entitled To Our Informed Opinions. Without Research, Without Background, Without Understanding, It's Nothing. It's Just Bibble-babble. It's Like A Fart In A Wind Tunnel, Folks.

Don't Start An Argument With Somebody Who Has A Microphone When You Don't. They'll Make You Look Like Chopped Liver.

What I Try To Write About Are The Darkest Things In The Soul, The Mortal Dreads... The Closer I Get To The Burning Core Of My Being, The Things Which Are Most Painful To Me, The Better Is My Work.