Who am I editing for?” One of my principles is that there is no typical anybody; every reader is different. I edit for myself and I write for myself.… - William Zinsser

never stopped to ask, “Who is the typical Yale alumnus? Who am I editing for?” One of my principles is that there is no typical anybody; every reader is different. I edit for myself and I write for myself. I assume that if I consider something interesting or funny, a certain number of other people will too. If they don’t, they have two inalienable rights — they can fire the editor and they can stop reading the writer.

Go to your desk on Monday morning and write about some event that’s still vivid in your memory. It doesn’t have to be long — three pages, five pages — but it should have a beginning and an end. Put that episode in a folder and get on with your life. On Tuesday morning, do the same thing. Tuesday’s episode doesn’t have to be related to Monday’s episode. Take whatever memory comes calling; your subconscious mind, having been put to work, will start delivering your past. Keep this up for two months, or three months, or six months. Don’t be impatient to start writing your “memoir” — the one you had in mind before you began. Then, one day, take all your entries out of their folder and spread them on the floor. (The floor is often a writer’s best friend.) Read them through and see what they tell you and what patterns emerge. They will tell you what your memoir is about — and what it’s not about.

Nobody ever stopped reading E. B. White or V. S. Pritchett because the writing was too good.

Mind in language are inseparable. If we violate our language we violate ourselves.