They sit down to commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write. The problem is … - William Zinsser

Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is.

the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write.

how the act of writing gives the teacher a window into the brain of his student.

Assume that you are the writer sitting down to write. You think your article must be of a certain length or it won’t seem important. You think how august it will look in print. You think of all the people who will read it. You think that it must have the solid weight of authority. You think that its style must dazzle. No wonder you tighten; you are so busy thinking of your awesome responsibility to the finished article that you can’t even start.

Nobody turns so quickly into a bore as a traveler home from his travels. He enjoyed his trip so much that he wants to tell us all about it — and “all” is what we don’t want to hear. We only want to hear some.