Quote

Talent is required, but much of writing is a matter of craft, which develops with time, attention, patience and practice, like playing an instrument or learning to dance.

I have no special talent, you know. I never took a writing course before I began to write.

Writing requires a great deal of skill, just like painting does. People don't want to learn those skills.

I think writing is such a great talent, and if I was better, I would love to be a writer.

My father told us all the time: to become a good writer takes writing. Because the more you do it, the better you get at it. It's like bull-riding. You can't do it once, you know. You've got to practice it and practice it.

I have always been able to write on the spot. It is a talent that I guess comes naturally.

I think writing well takes a little bit of talent and an awful lot of work.

However great a man's natural talent may be, the act of writing cannot be learned all at once.

We like to think about how smart we are. But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it's all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can't change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.

But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it's all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can't change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.