If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

I'd made it back to the land of the living. No matter how boring or mediocre a world it might be, this was it.

Let the world move along as it pleased. If it had any business with him, it would be sure to tell him.

According to Chekhov," Tamaru said, rising from his chair, "once a gun appears in a story, it has to be fired." "Meaning what?" "Meaning, don't bring unnecessary props into a story. If a pistol appears, it has to be fired at some point. Chekhov liked to write stories that did away with all useless ornamentation.

Be fearless, be brave, be bold, love yourself

Your work should be an act of love, not a marriage of convenience.

We're both looking at the same moon, in the same world. We're connected to reality by the same line. All I have to do is quietly draw it towards me.