Please don't entertain for a moment the utterly mistaken idea that there is no drudgery in writing. There is a great deal of drudgery in even the most inspired, the most noble, the most distinguished...
You must be able to write. You must have a sense of form, of pattern, of design. You must have a respect for and a mastery over words.
Why do you want to become an author? I will accept only one answer. If it is because you feel you can write better than you can do anything else then go ahead and do it without frills and flourishes....
Above all things -- read. Read the great stylists who cannot be copied rather than the successful writers who must not be copied.
We do not wait for inspiration. We work because we've jolly well got to. But when all is said and done, we toil at this particular job because it's turned out to be our particular job, and in a weird...
