Writing For Me Is Cutting Out The

The Basic Thing Is To Be Humble, And Pretend You're A Bartender In The Tavern Of Life. Don't Get Too Comfortable And Don't Really Listen To Anybody Else. Don't Stand Around With A Bunch Of Writers And Talk About Writing. You Know When You See Plumbers At A Plumbers Convention, Usually They're Not Talking About Plumbing: They're Talking About Whatever It Is That Two Men Happen To Talk About. They're Talking About Sports, Their Wives And Children. I Just Tell My Students, Don't Talk About Writing Too Much, Just Go Out And Do It. Find Out Whatever You Need To Get To The Mainland.

I Just Read History Books. I Read Nothing But History Books. They Have So Much To Give; I Wish I'd Majored In History In College.

I Think A Lot Of The History We've Read Up To This Point, Some Of It Is Just Off. It's Written With The Same Prejudice That Certain Networks Have When They Report The News Of The Day.

But What Difference Does It Make? ... When You're Mixed, You See How Absurd This Business Of Race Is.

If You Have The Material It Will Form Itself As A Kind Of Connective Tissue.