I came across this blog entry at what's new, pussycat? entitled "how to be a great writer," and have to share this quote:

It was Literary Legends Week on the History Channel, so I’ve just about had a gutful of the greats all wrapped up in neat little digestable packages. Too much about their tawdry lives, not enough about the writing. A couple of highlights. Hemingway: wars, hunts, fishes, grows beard, dies. Fitzgerald: drinks, drinks, jazz, crazy wife, drinks, drinks, dies.

What did I learn about writing from this extravaganza? Milk your experiences for all they’re worth. Don’t despair over that pesky world war, your evil tart of a wife, that cancer rotting in your lungs, your penchant for cross dressing, those annoying debt collectors with the big guns, whatever, it’s all choice material. It doesn’t matter that your family hate you for so blatantly plundering their lives for your novels, because you’re bound to die young, and years later when your family has carked it too, the world will realise how brilliant and original you were.