You won’t write well until you understand that writing is an evolving process, not a finished product. Nobody expects you to get it right the first t… - William Zinsser

Most nonfiction writers have a definitiveness complex. They feel that they are under some obligation — to the subject, to their honor, to the gods of writing — to make their article the last word. It’s a commendable impulse, but there is no last word.

I don’t like to write, but I take great pleasure in having written — in having finally made an arrangement that has a certain inevitability, like the solution to a mathematical problem. Perhaps in no other line of work is delayed gratification so delayed.

Moral: There are no cheap substitutes for the best.