On writing

That's the good news and the bad news. The bad news, because it means that confronting terror and humiliation is part of the job description. Good news, because it happens to everybody, it comes with the turf, and each time out will be like the first time. First love only happens once, but first-fiction terror and euphoria can happen again and again.

 So haul out your Moleskin or boot up the iBook, and go scare the hell out of yourself. Then fall in love. Repeat when necessary. 

- Tim Tomlinson, "Fiction," The Portable MFA in Creative Writing