You learn about life by the accidents you have, over and over again, and your father is always in your head when that stuff happens. Writing, most of the time, for most people, is an accident and your father is there for that, too. You know, I taught writing for a while and whenever somebody would tell me they were going to write about their dad, I would tell them they might as well go write about killing puppies because neither story was going to work. It just doesn't work. Your father won't let it happen.

1. Find a subject you care about. 2. Do not ramble, though. 3. Keep it simple. 4. Have the guts to cut. 5. Sound like yourself. 6. Say what you mean to say. 7.…

The telling of jokes is an art of its own, and it always rises from some emotional threat. The best jokes are dangerous, and dangerous because they are in some…

I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it's a very poor scheme for survival.

''Write what you know' is a tautology. You have no choice -- you have to write what you know, and in order to write something new, you have to learn something …

I acquire a lot of my material for writing based on the characters from my family - it's quite a character study growing up with that many people.

I really learned it all from mothers.