The military is a very cool world to write about. I went down to Ft. Benning, Ga., for military training, and I learned a lot about soldiers and officers and why they joined up and what their life has been like.

Depending on the situation, sometimes you can know a person better in ten minutes than someone you have crossed paths with all your life.

Because life doesn't work that way. You can do everything perfectly. Do everything you think you're supposed to be doing. Fulfill every expectation that other people may have. And you still won't get the results you think you deserve. Life is crazy and maddening and often makes no sense.

I'm a wicked ping-pong player.

When a poor man gives something, that is a sacrifice indeed. When a rich man gives something, it hardly rises to the same level.

I'm scattered, and then that last hundred pages, bam, I'm a laser.

Most folks here got rules 'bout trespassing. Warning shot's fired right close to the head. Get they's attention. Next shot gets a lot more personal. Now I'm too old to waste time firing a warning shot.