There Are Millions Of Ways To Not

The Tools Of Conquest Do Not Necessarily Come With Bombs And Explosions And Fallout. There Are Weapons That Are Simply Thoughts, Attitudes, Prejudices . . . . And The Pity Of It Is That These Things Cannot Be Confined To The Twilight Zone.

There Are Millions Of Ways To Not Be Writing. You Say You're Not In The Mood, You'll Pick It Up Tomorrow.

This Is, If Not A Lifetime Process, It's Awfully Close To It. The Writer Broadens, Becomes Deeper, Becomes More Observant, Becomes More Tempered, Becomes Much Wiser Over A Period Time Passing. It Is Not Something That Is Injected Into Him By A Needle. It Is Not Something That Comes On A Wave Of Flashing, Explosive Light One Night And Say, 'huzzah! Eureka! I've Got It!' And Then Proceeds To Write The Great American Novel In Eleven Days. It Doesn't Work That Way. It's A Long, Tedious, Tough, Frustrating Process, But Never, Ever Be Put Aside By The Fact That It's Hard.

I Remember The First Sale I Made Was A Hundred And Fifty Dollars For A Radio Script, And, As Poor As I Was, I Didn't Cash The Check For Three Months. I Kept Showing It To People.

It Has Forever Been Thus: So Long As Men Write What They Think, Then All Of The Other Freedoms - All Of Them - May Remain Intact. And It Is Then That Writing Becomes A Weapon Of Truth, An Article Of Faith, An Act Of Courage.