Don't Be Afraid of Your Idea

Use your eyes and ears. Think. Read . . . read . . . and still read. And then, when you have found your idea, don’t be afraid of it—or of your pen and paper; write it down as nearly as possible as you would express it in speech; swiftly, un-selfconsciously, without stopping to think about the form of it all. Revise it afterwards—but only afterwards. To stop and think about form in mid-career, while the idea is in motion, is like throwing out your clutch half-way up a hill and having to start in low again. You never get back to your old momentum.

DAVID LAMBUTH