How to tell if someone is a good writer

By / / art, business, commonplace book, language & literature, on writing / art, business, maxim, writing
How well I could write if I were not here!
Image by Esther_G via Flickr

From Josh Olson’s “I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script” (The Village Voice: 9 September 2009):

It rarely takes more than a page to recognize that you’re in the presence of someone who can write, but it only takes a sentence to know you’re dealing with someone who can’t.