I think Don accidentally left an empty post (now deleted), but it was a real pleasure to reread this old thread. And interesting that just yesterday in the mail I received a copy of a book I'd been meaning to check out of the library (but I can't go into that library now because of COVID-19). I got smart and looked online and Bookfinder listed it for $6, including shipping.

There are several books in the Twayne series of literary scholarship and criticism that deal with Steinbeck. John Steinbeck: A Study of the Short Fiction on pages 143-46, has a sub-chapter called "Steinbeck's Advice on Writing and His Further Discussion of Craftsmanship" that includes some quotes from Steinbeck's correspondence with friends and readers. For example, he writes to a friend suffering writer's block and suggests he shift over "to write poetry—not for selling—not even for seeing—poetry to throw away. For poetry is the mathematics of writing and closely kin to music. And it is also the best therapy because sometimes the troubles come tumbling out."

A longer section I won't enter here (pgs. 144-45) gives more detail about overcoming writer's block, about abandoning the idea you'll never finish, write rapidly without rewriting to start with, and don't have a generalized audience in mind. Have one particular person who you would tell a story to, explain something to them. (I follow this and in graduate school many of my papers were written as if I was telling this information to my friend Pam.) He also includes a version of "murder your darlings" - the paragraph that becomes too precious is usually the thing that doesn't fit the rest of the work and must go.

I wanted this book because I had just two photocopied pages with the advice and wanted to see the full citations for his sources, some probably mentioned here in this thread, published letters, etc. I'm planning to reread the short stories again one of these days (they're on my short stack of "to read" books). A lot of times these books are discarded by libraries, as was this thrift store copy. Too bad, the information is still germane. (They may have discarded it if they have access to an e-book version.)

The Steinbeck Library and the National Steinbeck Center (opened in 1998) is a shrine-like museum, I have a friend who worked there for many years as an artist in residence of sorts, and the Steinbeck city library has much longer hours (truncated now due to COVID-19, as has hit libraries across the land).