There are three things that make a person a writer: inspiration, perspiration and desperation.

Hope is cruel. Hope reminds me of what almost was. Hope makes the physical ache return.

Hope can be the most wonderful thing in the world or it can crush your heart like an eggshell.

I'm the Jerry Lewis of crime fiction.

I like to go out and write. So I'll often go to a Starbucks or a local coffee bar, and I'll sit there and I'll write. I can write pretty much anywhere.

But sometimes, maybe most times, it isn't that clear. It is dark and you are near the edge of a cliff, but you're moving slowly, not sure which direction you're heading in. Your steps are tentative but they are still blind in the night. You don't realize how close you are to the edge, how the soft earth could give away, how you could just slip a bit and suddenly plunge into the dark.

Man plans. God laughs.