On Writing

The Willian Saroyan Edition:

Do you think being a writer is a sensible thing?
Yes, I do.
How come?
I have studied the matter.
What matter?
The matter of what is sensible to be.
What is?
Being a writer is, if you are a writer.
What else is sensible to be?
WHatever you are.
A thief?
No, nobody is a thief. Everybody is something O.K.
Philosophy?
No, arithmetic.
...
The most solid advice, though, for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell, and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.

-- From the preface to The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze