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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.

Good writing of course requires talent, and no one can teach you to have talent.

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.

The real writer is one who really writes. Talent is an invention like phlogiston after the fact of fire. Work is its own cure. You have to like it better than being loved.

I think the only way you can become a writer is through honing your voice, creating your own voice.

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

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

I have tried to explore the little talent I have for writing.

It's like a novelist writing far out things. If it makes a point and makes sense, then people like to read that. But if it's off in left field and goes over the edge, you lose it. The same with musical talent, I think.

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