I had been writing professionally since 1988

His conviction that everything happened for a reason, and would come to good, gave him laughing equanimity even in hard times.

I think if I had been writing fiction, where the work is entirely dependent on the writer's creativity and the potential directions the narrative might take are infinite, I might have frozen

This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind.

...maybe it was better to break a man's leg than to break his heart.

Having a lot of people suddenly depending on me to get the job done was a marvelous motivator. The book and movie deals seemed to flip a switch in my head, and off I went

... character reigns preeminent in determining potential.