I am, when you stop to think of it, a member of a fairly select group: the final handful of American novelists who learned to read and write before they learned to eat a daily helping of video bullshit.

If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.

A short story is a different thing altogether – a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger.

A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar.

Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story. Good description is a learned skill,one of the prime reasons you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It's not just a question of how-to, you see; it's a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing.

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.