Another way to be awakened by the beauty and complexity of the word is to get a dog. Small Things like a plant that I had passed a thousand time and never given a second thought to. But the dog is curious. And the dog stops and wants to smell this and smell that. And the dog makes you look and focus and take the time.

Not an insult sweetie. That was a thirteen word kiss.

Vladimir Nabokov said the two great evils of the 20th century were Marx and Freud. He was absolutely correct.

Authors of so-called 'literary' fiction insist that action, like plot, is vulgar and unworthy of a true artist. Don't pay any attention to misguided advice of that sort. If you do, you will very likely starve trying to live on your writing income. Besides, the only writers who survive the ages are those who understand the need for action in a novel.

On the Road that I have taken, one day walking I awaken, amazed to see where I've come, where I'm going, where I'm from.

As long as I have laughter, I am not without hope

There is nothing fatherly about time and what it does to us, either.