I felt like a car that had only been operated by one driver… a car its new prospective buyer was determined to take to the Daytona 500.

I've often wished when I started a book I knew what was going to happen. I talked to writers who write 80-page outlines, and I'm just in awe of that.

Very few of my characters are totally heroic or totally villainous.

Finally, I drew in a long breath. It was noisy and painful and just heaven.

Sometimes, instead of going down the road less taken, you just charge down the beaten path.

The note, which had been written on one of the pads I kept around for grocery lists, said, "My lover, I came in too close to dawn to wake you, though I was tempted. Your house is full of strange men. A fairy upstairs and a little child downstairs- but as long as there's not one in my lady's chamber, I can stand it".

They say when one door shuts, another one opens. But they haven’t been living at my house. Most of the doors I open seem to have something scary crouched behind them, anyway.