The difference between writing a story and simply relating past events is that a story, in order to be acceptable, must have shape and meaning. It is the old idea that art is the bringing of order out of chaos.

You think it's so great to die and make everyone cry and carry on. Well it ain't.

This is what art is all about. It is weaving fabric from the feathers you have plucked from your own breast. But no one must ever see the process - only the finished bolt of goods. They must never suspect that that crimson thread running through the pattern is blood.

...One reason I became a writer was that I figured out that if you call yourself a writer, you can read all you want and people think that you are working.

Some folks are natural born kickers. They can always find a way to turn disaster into butter.

Lord, let me heed the angels you put in my path.

It seems to me that there are two great enemies of peace - fear and selfishness.