I rarely use the internet for research, as I find the process cumbersome and detestable. The information gained is often untrustworthy and couched in execrable prose. It is unpleasant to sit in front of a twitching screen suffering assault by virus, power outage, sluggish searches, system crashes and the lack of direct human discourse.

Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.

If you can't fix it, you have to stand it.

No wonder, he thought, that the panhandle people were a godly lot, for they lived in sudden, violent atmospheres. Weather kept them humble.

It takes a year, nephew... a full turn of the calendar, to get over losing someone.

I find it satisfying and intellectually stimulating to work with the intensity, brevity, balance and word play of the short story.

I would rather be dead than not read