On Writing

Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth; a bad writer will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite (Edward Albee, The Saturday Review, 1966).

The Penguin Rhyming Dictionary

For those of you into poetry this book is a must with its ability to scan through a complete list of phonetic transcriptions in a matter of minutes. Arranged alphabetically in the index, the reader is directed to a group number with a listing of rhymes and near-rhymes by subgroup.

On Writing

Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. George Orwell on "Why I Write" (Collected Essays, 1968)