Why were we put here, so inclined to love, when end of our story = death? That harsh. That cruel. Do not like.

I've found that my first drafts are not so special. But the more I work on them, the better they get. They are more unique and defensible.

...smile first, then speak.

We all think we know what happens after death. But maybe it's going to be not only weird but also dorky and comic and inconsistent.

In fact unrestrained capitalism is quite cruel and the cost is on the individual human, on his or her grace.

That underscored this idea that when we're reading a book or writing a book, you're in an act of co-creation. The reader and the writer are both trying to dress up and present their best selves and then there's that moment, when suddenly, as a reader, you're not exactly you anymore, and likewise, as a writer, you're not really you.

In Catholicism, we would say you're going to be judged, so therefore you should do better now. For me, Buddhism is somewhat more workable because instead of saying I have to do good, it says I have to notice what I'm actually doing.