At the end of a talk, playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) once gave, he despaired at being able to provide any practical advice. That is, except for how to procrastinate:

I’m undisciplined and unhappy writing and expect to be until the writing stops. I find a remarkable number of things to do in a day much more compelling than writing. I could give you absolutely sterling advice on how to avoid writing, how when you run out of things to do other than going to your desk and writing…

Eventually, though, Kushner circled to the thing itself. Like a great writer finally discovering his story, he focused on the fundamentals:

All I really know about writing is that if you’re a writer, writing is what you do. The work, intellectual, emotional, physical work, is everything—the means, the ends, the justifications, and the doubts, the ignominy, acclaim, disappointment, and elation, everything that can happen will happen only when and if you write…