This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it. […] You practice whether you want to or not. Thro… - Natalie Goldberg

I went home with the resolve to write what I knew and to trust my own thoughts and feelings and to not look outside myself. I was not in school anymore: I could say what I wanted.

As you reread, circle whole sections that are good in your notebooks. They often glow off the page and are obvious. […] Naturally, there should be a place for editing and revision, but when we hear the word editor, we think, "Okay. I let the creator in me go wild, but now I'm going to get back to the proper, conventional, rational state of mind and finally get things in order." We bring out the man or woman in a tweed suit from the East Coast with a doctorate in literature who is critical of everything. Don't do that. That person in the tweed suit is just another disguise for the ego that is trying to get control of things any way it can. […] Instead, when you go over your work, become a Samurai, a great warrior with the courage to cut out anything that is not present.

You tell the truth and you depict it in detail.