“To be a writer, you must write. To be a published writer you must finish what you write and then get what you've written in front of the outside world.”

“If you do not seek to publish what you have written, then you are not a writer and you never will be.”

“The real is the poem. Hence, for the poet—our figure for the writer as artist—to write is to get real.”

“I write because I am a writer, not because I want to get anything out of it.”

“Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.”

“I tell aspiring writers that you have to find what you MUST write. When you find it, you will know, because the subject matter won’t let you go. It’s not enough to write simply because you think it would be neat to be published. You have to be compelled to write. If you’re not, nothing else that you do matters.”

“The writer must write what he has to say, not speak it.”