The Anxiety of Writing

You seem to have those exact same anxieties that doesn't seem to be about being 80. It seems to have been as present when you were 40 as it is now. The time when I feel the most competent probably is if somebody says, ask me to read something that they've written and I can see what is wrong with it. And I can see how I could fix it. You see, I think when in doubt cut it out, that's my rule. Sometimes it really hurts to cut something out because it's a darling and you have to murder it. But people should murder them more. That's all I'm saying. People don't want to slaughter their own work.