If You Are Not Afraid Of The

The Aim Is To Burn Through To First Thoughts, To The Place Where Energy Is Unobstructed By Social Politeness Or The Internal Censor, To The Place Where You Are Writing What You Mind Actually Sees And Feels, Not What It Thinks It Should See Or Feel.

This Is The Practice School Of Writing. Like Running, The More You Do It, The Better You Get At It. Some Days You Don't Want To Run And You Resist Every Step Of The Three Miles, But You Do It Anyway. You Practice Whether You Want To Or Not. You Don't Wait Around For Inspiration And A Deep Desire To Run ... That's How Writing Is Too ... One Of The Main Aims In Writing Practice Is To Learn To Trust Your Own Mind And Body; To Grow Patient And Nonaggressive.

Kill The Idea Of The Lone, Suffering Artist. Don't Make It Any Harder On Yourself.

In The Past Few Years I've Assigned Books To Be Read Before A Student Attends One Of My Weeklong Seminars. I Have Been Astonished By How Few People -- People Who Supposedly Want To Write -- Read Books, And If They Read Them, How Little They Examine Them.

Writing Is The Act Of Discovery.