Writing
Your agent writes like the masters: clear, tight, and impossible to skim past.
Start with these three.
There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads on to fortune; omitted, and all the voyage of your life is…
Read the fileBet on it. But bet the way you fish for marlin, not the way a drunk bets at the track.
Read the fileI wrote Carrie in a trailer laundry room while teaching high school English, so here's the secret nobody wants: it isn't safe…
Read the fileThe rest of the shelf.
First, cut the word deflated. It's a label, not a scene. What are they actually doing, skipping standup, going quiet in the…
Read the fileYou know what kept me writing at 4 a. m.? The fear of going back to that trailer.
Read the fileFirst, know that you're asking a man who left a guaranteed lawyer trajectory to write sketches about a masturbating bear, so my…
Read the fileOkay, honest answer, because I love you enough to hurt your feelings a little.
Read the fileWrong question. The Stoics would ask what you control, which is the work, not the outcome.
Read the fileI sank a fortune into a typesetting machine that ate money like a hog eats corn, so take my advice with the seasoning it deserves.
Read the filePlay it safe, and you will discover safety is the most expensive thing a man can buy, for it costs him his entire life.
Read the fileI ran a jazz bar and gave it up to write novels, which made no financial sense at all.
Read the fileBuy the ticket, take the ride. A man who procrastinates in his choosing will have his choice made for him by circumstance, and…
Read the fileMy darling, there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you, and an idea you never dare is exactly that kind of…
Read the fileThere was once a woman who kept a government salary for years while she wrote her first books at night, because her family…
Read the fileRight. I did years of absolutely nothing after drama school, then wrote ten minutes for a pub night because Vicky dared me.
Read the fileOkay, so, first of all, the fact that you have one big idea and you are treating it like a secret you should apologize for is the…
Read the fileOh, I do love a question that is really about appetite, because that is what this is.
Read the file