When I'm Reading For My Own Pleasure,

Nobody Ever Lived In The Past.

If We Think Back Through Our Own Lives, The Subjects That You Liked Best In School Almost Certainly Were Taught By The Teachers You Liked Best. And The Teacher You Liked Best Was The Teacher Who Cared About The Subject She Taught.

You Have To Get Inside The People You Are Writing About. You Have To Go Below The Surface. And That's To A Very Large Degree What All Writers Are Doing - They're Trying To Get Below The Surface. Whether It's In Fiction Or Poetry Or Writing History And Biography. Some People Make That Possible Because They Write Wonderful Letters And Diaries. And You Have To Sort Of Go Where The Material Is.

George P. A. Healy; "i Knew No One In France, I Was Utterly Ignorant Of The Language, I Did Not Know What I Should Do When Once There; But I Was Not Yet One-and-twenty, And I Had A Great Stock Of Courage, Of Inexperience—which Is Sometimes A Great Help—and A Strong Desire To Be My Very Best.

One Of The Things About The Arts That Is So Important Is That In The Arts You Discover The Only Way To Learn How To Do It Is By Doing It. You Can't Write By Reading A Book About It. The Only Way To Learn How To Write A Book Is To Sit Down And Try To Write A Book