Writers are as varied as the colors in a box of crayons.

Yet the good ones are c ut from the same wax. They share a common belief: You cant write well unless you know how to think well. For writing is nothing but thinking in its the purest fo rm. This idea shapes not only how a writer works but how he lives. In fact, how a wr iter works and lives are as inseparable as air is from breathing. Let s take a l ook at why that s so. The great English writer Robert Graves penned novels, poems and critiques of wor ld history, politics and culture. But when it came to counseling aspiring writer s, he had but four words: Learn to cultivate leisure. Graves wasnt advising his aco lytes to lounge around the pool all day, sipping Margaritas. He certainly didnt. The man traveled everywhere and read everything, including Homer in the ancient Greek. Hardly a leisurely pursuit. Rather, what Graves mean was this: Make time to immerse yourself in life. Hear a ll, see all. Notice that some girls go barefoot, even when its below freezing, wh ile others wear furry boots in the heat of summer. No detail is too small if its meaningful. The trick is to find the meaning and that requires the time to think deeply about life. With an army no bigger than the New York City police force, Alexander the Great conquered most of the civilized world in the 300 years before the birth of Jesus . His greatest moment came when he sent a mere 300 commandos to subdue a rebel a rmy that thought it was safely perched atop a cliff in Uzbekistan. Alexander s c ommandos scaled the cliff, overwhelming the surprised rebels. If he hadnt been a warrior King, Alexander would have made a fine writer. He was the ancient embodiment of the writers credo: Less is more. The guy knew how to do a lot with a little. Consider less is more as the Zen Koan of writing well. It represents an ethic that makes writers the sworn enemy of all pretense and bloviation. Writers worship c larity. They struggle to reduce all ideas, people and places to their essence. W riters say as much as they can in as few words as necessary. Writers are, above all, men and women of few words. Like his fellow Englishman Graves, Benjamin Disraeli was no slouch, either. He b usied himself running the country and writing histories and novels. Despite his awesome workload, Disraeli wasnt so grave. He always credited both his artistic a nd political successes to his strong sense of the ridiculous. He tried never to ta ke anyone especially himself too seriously. Hence, his preference for pirate gar b and Turkish baths. Whom or what configured the motherboards of our souls seems to have purposely cr ossed many of the wires. Were forever shorting out, acting inconsistently and con tradictorily. Peoples behavior doesnt add up neatly like the columns of a balance sheet. Theres always some unexplainable gap. How else to explain why Disraeli, a conservative idolizer of the landed aristocracy, extended suffrage to the Britis h working class and laid the foundation for the modern welfare state? Writers try to capture such contradictions, not excuse or explain them away. You dont have to pretend in your writing that life makes sense. Leave that to the ex perts. Lord knows there are enough of them today, pontificating on everything fr om economics to friendship. Not that you should take experts too seriously. Youll learn that most of them are wrong most of the time. Remember, it was highly paid experts who were certain Y 2K would destroy computers worldwide and that the Pet Rock would be the hottest

thing since the wheel. As Yogi Berra once said, Its tough to make predications, es pecially about the future. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If the future were predictable our service economy would collapse. Thered be little work for the legions of economists, fina ncial planners, online pundits and late night TV soothsayers. As an aspiring writer, rejoice in lifes unpredictable. It has kept writers employ ed for a millennium. A growing sense of the ridiculous, if left untreated, will fester into doubt. Th is is a good thing if you re a writer. Think of doubt as a nagging parrot. It sits on a writers shoulder whispering ince ssantly. Is this person telling me the truth? How can I verify what hes saying. Ar e these documents believable and why? Dont confuse this nagging with cynicism, believing the worst about everyone or ev erything. Rather, its an attitude a newspaper editor I once knew called a healthy pessimism. Writers assume nothing until it s proven. Doubt is part of a never-ending struggle to remain independent in thought and de ed. Its a struggle that requires questioning yourself, continually asking: Am I su re and why? What evidence supports my theme or point of view? Let doubt keep you humble and humility will save you from the blindness of arrogant self-confidence . Writing turns you into somebody who s always wrong, wrote Philip Roth in his Pulit zer Prize winning novel American Pastoral. The illusion that you may get it right i s the perversity that draws you on. If Roth, one of our greatest living writers, can retain his humility, so can you . Arrogant self-assurance is a wet blanket that will smother any spark of ingenu ity. Nurturing doubt can be a bit dangerous. A modest amount keeps you honest and hum ble. But too much will strangle your initiative like kudzu enveloping a live oak. A touch of courage helps to temper doubt. It inspires you to take chances, to wa nder away from clich and convention, pushing the envelope of understanding, think ing the unthinkable. Thats how you gain the insight that drives a truly fresh voi ce. Of course, taking chances is never easy. There are times when youre going to end up in a ditch. "Writing is like driving a truck in the dark without headlights," said writer Gay Talese. Still, if youve never felt lost or afraid when writing than you are not trying ha rd enough. You have to learn to feel comfortable with the uncomfortable. Take heart, though. All who wander are not lost. In fact, writers like to wander. Theyre self-starters who are happy to find their own way. Ever restless, writers tend to live life as a never-ending quest for the next go

od challenge. All the better if its one theyve set for themselves. For restless striver types, writing makes a worthy pursuit. Thats because writing is an ever-rising hill with no peak. If theres no peak, you never reach the top, always leaving room for improvement. Indeed, its by challenging yourself trying n ew genres, techniques, and voices - that your writing improves. Climbing that ever-rising hill is not unlike some kind of lifelong marathon. To ascend any distance requires rigorous training. Writers must learn not only how to push themselves; they must master how to weather hard but constructive critic ism as well. The key to benefiting from criticism is to embrace failure. It sounds counter-in tuitive, I know, because you ve been mislead to believe that failure is a bad th ing. In fact, successful people from all walks of life learn to see it as the bo ot camp of excellence. It s only through trial and error, missteps and detours t hat one can grow and improve. You can t stand tall until you ve tumbled down a l ot of stairs. No one understands this connection between excellence and failure better than basketball legend Michael Jordon. Here s how he once put it: "I ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I ve lost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I ve failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed." Like basketball, writing is often not a solo endeavor. Writing in particular is too hard to do alone. Every writer needs a demanding yet supportive coach - or a knitting circle. Finding advice isnt hard. Plenty of people parents, friends, lovers, even rivals will offer opinions about your writing. The problem is that most of it will stin k. How, then, to discern the diamond from the glass, the valuable from the worthles s? The secret is to become your own best critic. That requires two things. First, deafen yourself to mummery. Be wary of anyone, including your mother, who offers undeserved praise or likes everything you write. While well intentioned, such praise will soften your intellect like a rotting melon. Instead, seek out voices that prompt you to stop and think: Are my facts right; h ave I fairly represented them and is my writing clear and persuasive? Don t expe ct to find many who can provide such constructive critique. But when you do find such people, embrace them. Second, as suggested earlier, read the best. Discover writers you admire and exp lore their work. Study what makes it so compelling. It will tune your ear to hea r the best in your own work. Words are the notes that make writing sing. That s why writers treasure them the way a gemologist does amethyst or malachite. Writers are forever on the hunt fo r new gems. Think like a writer Writers are as varied as the colors in a box of crayons. Yet the good ones are c ut from the same wax. They share a common belief: You cant write well unless you know how to think well. For writing is nothing but thinking in its the purest fo rm.

 This idea shapes not only how a writer works but how he lives. In fact, how a wr iter works and lives are as inseparable as air is from breathing. Let s take a l ook at why that s so. The great English writer Robert Graves penned novels, poems and critiques of wor ld history, politics and culture. But when it came to counseling aspiring writer s, he had but four words: Learn to cultivate leisure. Graves wasnt advising his aco lytes to lounge around the pool all day, sipping Margaritas. He certainly didnt. The man traveled everywhere and read everything, including Homer in the ancient Greek. Hardly a leisurely pursuit. Rather, what Graves mean was this: Make time to immerse yourself in life. Hear a ll, see all. Notice that some girls go barefoot, even when its below freezing, wh ile others wear furry boots in the heat of summer. No detail is too small if its meaningful. The trick is to find the meaning and that requires the time to think deeply about life. With an army no bigger than the New York City police force, Alexander the Great conquered most of the civilized world in the 300 years before the birth of Jesus . His greatest moment came when he sent a mere 300 commandos to subdue a rebel a rmy that thought it was safely perched atop a cliff in Uzbekistan. Alexander s c ommandos scaled the cliff, overwhelming the surprised rebels. If he hadnt been a warrior King, Alexander would have made a fine writer. He was the ancient embodiment of the writers credo: Less is more. The guy knew how to do a lot with a little. Consider less is more as the Zen Koan of writing well. It represents an ethic that makes writers the sworn enemy of all pretense and bloviation. Writers worship c larity. They struggle to reduce all ideas, people and places to their essence. W riters say as much as they can in as few words as necessary. Writers are, above all, men and women of few words. Like his fellow Englishman Graves, Benjamin Disraeli was no slouch, either. He b usied himself running the country and writing histories and novels. Despite his awesome workload, Disraeli wasnt so grave. He always credited both his artistic a nd political successes to his strong sense of the ridiculous. He tried never to ta ke anyone especially himself too seriously. Hence, his preference for pirate gar b and Turkish baths. Whom or what configured the motherboards of our souls seems to have purposely cr ossed many of the wires. Were forever shorting out, acting inconsistently and con tradictorily. Peoples behavior doesnt add up neatly like the columns of a balance sheet. Theres always some unexplainable gap. How else to explain why Disraeli, a conservative idolizer of the landed aristocracy, extended suffrage to the Britis h working class and laid the foundation for the modern welfare state? Writers try to capture such contradictions, not excuse or explain them away. You dont have to pretend in your writing that life makes sense. Leave that to the ex perts. Lord knows there are enough of them today, pontificating on everything fr om economics to friendship. Not that you should take experts too seriously. Youll learn that most of them are wrong most of the time. Remember, it was highly paid experts who were certain Y 2K would destroy computers worldwide and that the Pet Rock would be the hottest thing since the wheel. As Yogi Berra once said, Its tough to make predications, es pecially about the future. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If the future were predictable our service

economy would collapse. Thered be little work for the legions of economists, fina ncial planners, online pundits and late night TV soothsayers. As an aspiring writer, rejoice in lifes unpredictable. It has kept writers employ ed for a millennium. A growing sense of the ridiculous, if left untreated, will fester into doubt. Th is is a good thing if you re a writer. Think of doubt as a nagging parrot. It sits on a writers shoulder whispering ince ssantly. Is this person telling me the truth? How can I verify what hes saying. Ar e these documents believable and why? Dont confuse this nagging with cynicism, believing the worst about everyone or ev erything. Rather, its an attitude a newspaper editor I once knew called a healthy pessimism. Writers assume nothing until it s proven. Doubt is part of a never-ending struggle to remain independent in thought and de ed. Its a struggle that requires questioning yourself, continually asking: Am I su re and why? What evidence supports my theme or point of view? Let doubt keep you humble and humility will save you from the blindness of arrogant self-confidence . Writing turns you into somebody who s always wrong, wrote Philip Roth in his Pulit zer Prize winning novel American Pastoral. The illusion that you may get it right i s the perversity that draws you on. If Roth, one of our greatest living writers, can retain his humility, so can you . Arrogant self-assurance is a wet blanket that will smother any spark of ingenu ity. Nurturing doubt can be a bit dangerous. A modest amount keeps you honest and hum ble. But too much will strangle your initiative like kudzu enveloping a live oak. A touch of courage helps to temper doubt. It inspires you to take chances, to wa nder away from clich and convention, pushing the envelope of understanding, think ing the unthinkable. Thats how you gain the insight that drives a truly fresh voi ce. Of course, taking chances is never easy. There are times when youre going to end up in a ditch. "Writing is like driving a truck in the dark without headlights," said writer Gay Talese. Still, if youve never felt lost or afraid when writing than you are not trying ha rd enough. You have to learn to feel comfortable with the uncomfortable. Take heart, though. All who wander are not lost. In fact, writers like to wander. Theyre self-starters who are happy to find their own way. Ever restless, writers tend to live life as a never-ending quest for the next go od challenge. All the better if its one theyve set for themselves. For restless striver types, writing makes a worthy pursuit. Thats because writing is an ever-rising hill with no peak. If theres no peak, you never reach the top,

always leaving room for improvement. Indeed, its by challenging yourself trying n ew genres, techniques, and voices - that your writing improves. Climbing that ever-rising hill is not unlike some kind of lifelong marathon. To ascend any distance requires rigorous training. Writers must learn not only how to push themselves; they must master how to weather hard but constructive critic ism as well. The key to benefiting from criticism is to embrace failure. It sounds counter-in tuitive, I know, because you ve been mislead to believe that failure is a bad th ing. In fact, successful people from all walks of life learn to see it as the bo ot camp of excellence. It s only through trial and error, missteps and detours t hat one can grow and improve. You can t stand tall until you ve tumbled down a l ot of stairs. No one understands this connection between excellence and failure better than basketball legend Michael Jordon. Here s how he once put it: "I ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I ve lost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I ve failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed." Like basketball, writing is often not a solo endeavor. Writing in particular is too hard to do alone. Every writer needs a demanding yet supportive coach - or a knitting circle. Finding advice isnt hard. Plenty of people parents, friends, lovers, even rivals will offer opinions about your writing. The problem is that most of it will stin k. How, then, to discern the diamond from the glass, the valuable from the worthles s? The secret is to become your own best critic. That requires two things. First, deafen yourself to mummery. Be wary of anyone, including your mother, who offers undeserved praise or likes everything you write. While well intentioned, such praise will soften your intellect like a rotting melon. Instead, seek out voices that prompt you to stop and think: Are my facts right; h ave I fairly represented them and is my writing clear and persuasive? Don t expe ct to find many who can provide such constructive critique. But when you do find such people, embrace them. Second, as suggested earlier, read the best. Discover writers you admire and exp lore their work. Study what makes it so compelling. It will tune your ear to hea r the best in your own work. Words are the notes that make writing sing. That s why writers treasure them the way a gemologist does amethyst or malachite. Writers are forever on the hunt fo r new gems. Words such as purl, sough and widdershins. A strong vocabulary makes your writin g shine. Even seasoned veterans keep an ever-growing journal of vocabulary, gath ering words from reading and conversation. Ive been collecting words now for more than 25 years, having started when I was in college. Make gathering words a lif elong hobby, even an obsession.