I keep running into the oh-so-true bits that slap me upside the head:
A comment from Benjamin Moser (New York Times Book Review): “Today, I realize that clear expression can come only from clear thinking. And I know how hard it is to write something that is easy to read.”
A comment from Tim Mahoney (tpmahoney.com), who has a couple of great books set in the days of Prohibition, back before St. Paul, Minnesota had discovered “Minnesota Nice,” in last night’s critique group: “watch out for the word ‘because.’ What follows it is almost always an explanation. If you need an explanation, you’ve often not done a good enough job of creating the scene or the emotion.”
Pilgrimage 