On writing

“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” — Mark Twain

“Thus, in a real sense, I am constantly writing autobiography, but I have to turn it into fiction in order to give it credibility.” –Katherine Paterson

“Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.” –Kurt Vonnegut

“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.” –Benjamin Franklin

“I didn’t lie–I was writing fiction in my mouth.” –Homer Simpson

“There’s nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” –Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise.  The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” –Sylvia Plath

“I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” –Elmore Leonard