The pearls weren't really white, they were a warm oyster beige, with little knots in between so if they broke, you only lost one. I wished my life could be like that, knotted up so that even if something broke, the whole thing wouldn't come apart.

I thought clay must feel happy in the good potter's hand.

What is a scene? a) A scene starts and ends in one place at one time (the Aristotelian unities of time and place-this stuff goes waaaayyyy back). b) A scene starts in one place emotionally and ends in another place emotionally. Starts angry, ends embarrassed. Starts lovestruck, ends disgusted. c) Something happens in a scene, whereby the character cannot go back to the way things were before. Make sure to finish a scene before you go on to the next. Make something happen.

I'm always looking for something new and interesting to say. And it can't be something I'm directly experiencing.

Panic was the worst thing. When you panicked, you couldn't see possibilities. Then came despair.

The best you'll ever do is to understand yourself, know what it is that you want, and not let the cattle stand in your way.

No matter where I was, my compass pointed west. I would always know what time it was in California.