If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it’s to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel.
Every writer with half a brain knows to surround himself or herself with editors who are smarter, far more articulate and infinitely better looking.
What I loved most about calling myself a reporter was that it gave me an excuse to show up anyplace.
A writer without interest or sympathy for the foibles of his fellow man is not conceivable as a writer.
Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.
Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk — away from any open flames — to remind yourself that if you don’t write daily, you will get rusty.
Thank your readers and the critics who praise you, and then ignore them. Write for the most intelligent, wittiest, wisest audience in the universe: Write to please yourself.
Anecdotes don’t make good stories. Generally, I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about.
Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.



























