It’s my birthday, by the way, and as of 2:05 this morning (the time of my birth in the middle of a snow storm on the Fort Dix army base in New Jersey) I’m 52...

…we have, each of us, a story that is uniquely ours, a narrative arc that we can walk with purpose once we figure out what it is. It’s the opposite to living our lives episodically,...

New York always feels more like my hometown than the places where I actually grew up (which weren’t far from New York), perhaps because I did my artistic “growing up” while working in this crazy,...

books.” The first book I ever read on my own was The Neverending Story. I studied classics at university, and in ancient literature, monsters, witches, magic, curses, and impossible machines aren’t genre, they’re just Tuesday...

the Mod generation”, contrary to popular belief, was not born in even 1958, but in the 1920s after a steady gestation from about 1917 or so. Now, Mod certainly came of age, fully sure of...

Read and write all the time. Never stop sending out your stuff. If you’re constantly writing and sending stuff out, eventually someone will bite.

I should never be left alone with my mind for too long.

Write all the time. I believe in writing every day, at least a thousand words a day. We have a strange idea about writing: that it can be done, and done well, without a great...

If you’re a writer, your first duty, a duty you owe to yourself and your readers, and to your writing itself, is to become wonderful. To become the best writer you can possibly be.

Accept criticism. If you do not offer your work for criticism and accept that criticism, meaning give it serious thought and attention, then you will never improve.

Read a lot. But read as a writer, to see how other writers are doing it. And make your knowledge of literature in English as deep and broad as you can. In workshops, writers are...

Learn as much as you can. Take every opportunity to learn about writing, whether it’s through classes, workshops, whatever is available to you. This may be difficult, because things like classes, workshops, writing programs, require...

Although I’ve written a few (a very few) poems over the years, I am not a natural poet…and I remain in awe of people who are. The ability to evoke deep emotion, reveal a new...