shame should be reserved for the things we choose to do, not the circumstances that life puts on us

The idea I pursue is the one that keeps coming back to me. The characters I think about as I'm falling asleep at night or when I'm driving to the grocery store are the one's I wind up writing about.

You can’t control what other people think about your art. Think about the part of yourself that you can control, which is your ability to be kind and loving and creative.

Do you want to do this thing? Sit down and do it. Are you not writing? Keep sitting there. Does it not feel right? Keep sitting there. Think of yourself as a monk walking the path to enlightenment. Think of yourself as a high school senior wanting to be a neurosurgeon. Is it possible? Yes. Is there some shortcut? Not one I've found. Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.

You are the same person in every aspect of your life, and you have to be a responsible person in every aspect of your life.

People gave me such a bad time about wanting a baby. I didn't want a baby, and I still don't. I wanted a dog.

I certainly have written a lot about police in my life, and it's not only something that I know about, but always something that interests me.