Advice For Young Writers

You get into the brain by way of the eye if you’re at all smart or reasonable. Any other route is madness and the north face, the impassable pass, the sheer cliff and the razor line. Writers are fools. If you do not understand this then you are not a writer. This is how you must proceed :

First, equip yourself with equipment. Such as poverty and a sturdy frame. With the ballast of fourteen thousand books and the compass of a ripped youth, a youth spent in blood and skin. A good memory is your ice pick. Without it you will fall to your death. Ropes. Bring ropes. They have a thousand uses, though you will only ever have need of two. Have in your heart a stamina for other hearts, and in your loins a vacuum cleaner. Your toes must be supple. Take no one with you. The rocks and the ragged paths are your companions, you are unlovable and your progress is minute. Expect no thanks. You deserve none. If you find that you are healthy, or rich, or famous, then you have taken the wrong route. You are in the grasses by the tinkling brook. Go higher, breathe harder, move more slowly, take off your shoes, take off your shirt, go higher still, stop not for blood or disaster, hurl yourself, throw your body against the rocks, proceed, proceed, word by word by stupid word. Remember to laugh. Remember to take in the view. Remember the first word, the one that got you started. If you are a writer you will understand all of this already.

Get plenty of sleep.