For Will: I respectfully disagree, sir. The fact that you believe what you believe--which is certainly your right, of course--is why good writers are apt to discount what you write. . .or ignore it completely. Good writers know there's a whole lot more to good writing than "if it feels good, do it." That's a total non-starter--an insult to good writing, in my view, though I'm confident you didn't intend it that way--if one expects others to invest their time trying to learn from your writing.

For Anjali. Good writing is neither art nor science. It is craft. The only way to get good at the craft of writing--or at any other craft--is to do it. . .and keep doing it, over and over and over. Be sure to work with someone who's a whole lot better at it than the would-be serious writer is.

Along with doing it, though, we also have to observe great crafts-men and -women. That means reading great writers. They're not found in magazines or newspapers - those are journalists with limited space and short attention spans. The people that would-be writers--those who didn't take writing seriously until we were launched on career paths--should read have written great books of both fiction and non-fiction. Anyone reading this blog knows the names of many such writers.

In my own case, I believe that fine writing is good story-telling. Therefore, I focus on great historians and world-class biographers. Herodotus and James Boswell, respectively, are fine launching pads in those two genres.