“I hate to write, let’s confess that right now. It’s damn hard to do, and it’s not fun. It never gives back as much as you give because you never know if it’s good enough. Waking up every morning to go to your desk at 4 or 5 am, praying that the phone will ring with someone to distract you. But even more than being very difficult and powerful work–and I don’t think we talk about this enough–is writing a skill that can be learned or be made better? Sure. But it’s like I say to my classes, ‘You all can write, but do you have something to say?’ People with an ability to write are a dime a dozen, but it’s rare to be able to have something to say, something to tell the world. It’s pretty scary and pretty daunting and it’s something that takes a lot of courage to do.”