This is not a book in a traditional sense. This is not Ernest Hemingway writing about the craft.

This is a collection of his letters and quotes from elsewhere, around the clusters which naturally formed.

There is a weirdness to reading things that way. There were a few things which felt dated, from a bygone era. There were many other things which felt true now, even after so many years.

It’s a short book 81 pages. Good to read if the subject interests you.

Quotes

I believe that basically you write for two people: yourself to try to make it absolutely perfect; or if not that, then wonderful. Then you write for who you love, whether she can read or write or not, and whether she is alive or dead.

Write for one person. I have read this advice from multiple sources. But good to know Hemingway felt the same.

Up in that room, I decided that I would write one story about each thing that I knew about. I was trying to do this all the time I was writing, and it was good and severe discipline.

This is also good advice. Write one story about something you’ve gone through. One thing. How many things have I gone through?

It is better to produce half as much, get plenty of exercise, and not go crazy than to speed up so that your head is hardly normal.

A holistic advice to having a writer’s life.

It’s hard enough to write—and writing prose is a full-time job, and all the best of it is done in your subconscious, and when that is full of business, reviews, opinions, etc., you don’t get a damned thing.