I used to be able to write five pages a day, every day, no problem. Now a good day is five or four pages, and that's from 9:30 A.M. until 6 P.M.

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

A pen connects you to the paper. It definitely matters.

Bad guys are not bad guys twenty-four hours a day.

I won't read a book that starts with a description of the weather. I don't read books over 300 pages, though I'll make an exception for Don Delillo.

I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted.

Avoid prologues: they can be ­annoying, especially a prologue ­following an introduction that comes after a foreword.