I Consider Writing Practice A True Zen

The First Thing Is How Awful Cancer Was, The Experience. When You First Go Through It, You're Just Trying To Survive. But When I Wrote About It, I Really Digested It. It Was Unbearable But I Had Practice Behind Me.

There's An Old Adage In Writing: 'don't Tell, But Show.' Writing Is Not Psychology. We Do Not Talk 'about' Feelings. Instead The Writer Feels And Through Her Words Awakens Those Feelings In The Reader. The Writer Takes The Reader's Hand And Guides Him Through The Valley Of Sorrow And Joy Without Ever Having To Mention Those Words.

If You Love The Work, It Will Love You Back.

In The Past Few Years I've Assigned Books To Be Read Before A Student Attends One Of My Weeklong Seminars. I Have Been Astonished By How Few People -- People Who Supposedly Want To Write -- Read Books, And If They Read Them, How Little They Examine Them.

This Is What Metaphor Is. It Is Not Saying That An Ant Is An Elephant. Perhaps; Both Are Alive. No. Metaphor Is Saying The Ant Is An Elephant. Now, Logically Speaking, I Know There Is A Difference. If You Put Elephants And Ants Before Me, I Believe That Every Time I Will Correctly Identify The Elephant And The Ant. So Metaphor Must Come From A Very Different Place Than That Of The Logical, Intelligent Mind. It Comes From A Place That Is Very Courageous, Willing To Step Out Of Our Preconceived Ways Of Seeing Things And Open So Large That It Can See The Oneness In An Ant And In An Elephant.