If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

My characters have to talk, or they're out. They audition in early scenes. If they can't talk, they're given less to do, or thrown out.

At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about.

Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.

What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.

I don't get in a position to be frightened. I don't do anything dangerous, and I always pay my bills.

If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it.