If you didn't have me to rake you over the coals now and then, there wouldn't be any fire in your life at all.

She breathed deeply of the scent of decaying fiction, disintegrating history, and forgotten verse, and she observed for the first time that a room full of books smelled like dessert: a sweet snack made of figs, vanilla, glue, and cleverness.

The best way to get even with anyone is to put them in the rearview mirror on your way to something better.

I mean, when the world comes for your children, with the knives out, it's your job to stand in the way.

Fantasy was always only a reality waiting to be switched on.

I remind myself that no one day of writing matters all that much. A story is built somewhat like a stalactite - one little drip of mud and grit at a time.

I will be waiting by candlelight in our tree house of the mind.