You Write That First Draft

I Am Terrified Of Restrictive Religious Doctrine, Having Learned From History That When Men Who Adhere To Any Form Of It Are In Control, Common Men Like Me Are In Peril.

All I Can Do Is Play The Game The Way The Cards Fall.

I Write At Eighty-five For The Same Reasons That Impelled Me To Write At Forty-five; I Was Born With A Passionate Desire To Communicate, To Organize Experience, To Tell Tales That Dramatize The Adventures Which Readers Might Have Had. I Have Been That Ancient Man Who Sat By The Campfire At Night And Regaled The Hunters With Imaginative Recitations About Their Prowess. The Job Of An Apple Tree Is To Bear Apples. The Job Of A Storyteller Is To Tell Stories, And I Have Concentrated On That Obligation.

I Don’t Know Who My Parents Were. I Know Nothing About My Inheritance. I Could Be Jewish; I Could Be Part Negro; I Could Be Irish; I Could Be Russian. I Am Spiritually A Mix Anyway, But I Did Have A Solid Childhood Fortunately, Because Of Some Wonderful Women Who Brought Me Up. I Never Had A Father Or A Man In The House, And That Was A Loss...

Writers Turn Dreams Into Print.