Nervous hands as if the fingers were dripping from them like icicles.

The creative writer is usually captive to his next book.

A woman has to be twice as good as a man to go half as far.

writing is the loneliest job in the world. There's always that frustrating chasm to bridge between the concept and the writing of it. We're a harassed tribe, we writers.

Some authors have what amounts to a metaphysical approach. They admit to inspiration. Sudden and unaccountable urgencies to writecatapult them out of sleep and bed. For myself, I have never awakened to jot down an idea that was acceptable the following morning.

Few enjoy noisy overcrowded functions. But they are a gesture of goodwill on the part of host or hostess, and also on the part of guests who submit to them.

I'm not happy when I'm writing, but I'm more unhappy when I'm not.