A Terrific Sadness Swept Over Jerry. As

Salinger Is Such A Terrific Writer; He Did So Many Great Things. He Is One Of Those Writers That I Still Reread, Simply Because He Makes Me See The Possibilities And Makes Me Feel Like Writing. There Are Certain Writers Who Put You In The Mood To Write. In The Way A Whiff Of A Cigar Will Bring Back Memories Of A Ballgame On A Saturday Afternoon, Reading Salinger Makes Me Want To Get To The Typewriter.

The Beautiful Part Of Writing Is That You Don't Have To Get It Right The First Time, Unlike, Say, A Brain Surgeon. You Can Always Do It Better, Find The Exact Word, The Apt Phrase, The Leaping Simile.

I Read A Lot Of Detective Stories Because They Always Deliver. They Give You A Beginning, A Middle, And An End - A Resolution. The Modern Novels I Read Don't Always Deliver Because I'm Looking Essentially For A Story. As In Shakespeare, "the Play's The Thing." In Particular I Read Detective Stories For Pacing, Plot And Suspense.

I'm Always Telling Myself As I Write That I'm Not Really Writing A Novel; I'm Just Going To Fool Around With A Character Or An Idea.

I Write Very Tightly, And My Big Fear Is Boring People. I Want Them To Read Quickly, Stopped In Their Tracks. I Resist Indulging Myself.