Jay Robinson

"The rest of the world regarded Americans as a mob of barbarians who happened to live on top of a mother lode of precious minerals, fertile land, inexhaustible woodlands and waterways galore … but were as uncouth as they were rich … and spoke in barbaric yawps. This improbable yobbo, Mark Twain, had risen up from the buried life of the mines and the boiler rooms and done an amazing thing. He had turned the local yokel’s yawping yodels into … literature!"

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Tom Wolfe, Faking West, Going East

Boy, there’s a fun bunch of words!

"The river’s algorithm is simple. At each step, flow down. For the essayist this translates to: flow interesting. Of all the places to go next, choose the most interesting."

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Paul Graham, The Age of the Essay

Excellent writing advice by the inimitable Paul Graham. A must read.

"Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about."

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Kurt Vonnegut tells you How To Write With Style

I’ve always loved Vonnegut: short and to the point. So many great tips in here, but most importantly, write about what you think about all the time. Your passion will be evident in your writing.

"It doesn’t fucking matter! I happen to write in Emacs. I also code in Emacs, which is a nice bonus. Other people write and code in vi. Other people write in Microsoft Word and code in TextMate+ or TextEdit or some fancy web-based collaborative editor like EtherPad or Google Wave. Whatever. Picking the right text editor will not make you a better writer. Writing will make you a better writer. Writing, and editing, and publishing, and listening — really listening — to what people say about your writing. … Just fucking write, then publish, then write some more."

— Mark Pilgrim wants to run the same computer for 20 years. And he doesn’t care what word processor you use.

Fedora.net →

Ancient writings by John Gruber uncovered.