Steven Pressfield

His first job when he moved to New York City was as a $150-a-week copy writer for Benton & Bowles. One day while rewriting the just-add-water text for the back label of Gravy Train dog food he asked himself, 'Shouldn't I be doing something a little more worthwhile?' He decided to quit and write a novel.

On reading manuscripts by unpublished writers: "If you want to send a manuscript, send it to an agent. And send a letter first, asking permission. Launch it into the real world of cold-blooded commercial response, not into the fantasyland of wishful thinking, cowardice and surrender to Resistance."