theparisreview:

“I must have such control of my tools, of words, that I can make this sentence leap off the page. I have to have my writing so polished that it doesn’t look polished at all. I want a reader, especially an editor, to be a half-hour into my book before he realizes it’s reading he’s doing.”

—Maya Angelou, The Art of Fiction No. 119

apoetreflects:

“It took me years to understand that words are often as important as experience, because words make experience last”

—Willie Morris