One way to remain unfinished is to stop. the other is to go on.

One way to remain unfinished is to stop. the other is to go on.

I always found Louise Brooks interesting. She was an icon of the silent - film era, and I knew she'd grown up in Kansas, and that she was smart and rebellious and sharp - tongued.

This life is mine because of good luck. And because I reached out and took it.

It's like swimming, underwater, this whole year. I just close my eyes. hold my breath, and keep kicking.

While I was writing the book, I went to see Louise Brooks's most famous film, Pandora's Box, at the Tivoli in Kansas City, and it was a lovely experience. You can watch old silent films on DVD or even on YouTube, but it was a different feeling watching her up on the big screen, seeing the film the way people saw it all those years ago.

You could push people away, past their limits, even accidentally, and then it was just too late to get them back