“The p'int of good writing is to know when to stop.”
“Everything depends on knowing how much,” she said, and “Good is knowing when to stop.”
“Stop writing what you know and start writing what you want to know.”
“You know you’re writing well when you’re throwing good stuff into the wastebasket.”
“I only write when I'm angry or sad, so because that's when I just have to write... If I'm having a good time and I'm happy and things are going really well, why would I want to stop what I'm doing to go and write at the piano?”
“A good writer knew when not to write. Anybody could type. Not that I was a good typist; also I couldn't spell and I didn't know grammar. But I knew when not to write. It was like fucking. You had to rest the godhead now and then.”