A wonderful emotion to get things moving when one is stuck is anger. It was anger more than anything else that had set me off, roused me into productivity and creativity.

Reading Stephen King's book, On Writing, was like being cornered and forced to have a long, drawn out mental enema.

I have never been nervous in all my life and I have no patience with people who are. If you know what you are going to do, you have no reason to be nervous. And I knew what I was going to do.

My block was due to two overlapping factors: laziness and lack of discipline.

Research on child abuse suggests that religious beliefs can foster, encourage, and justify the abuse of children. When contempt for sex underlies teachings, this creates a breeding ground for abuse.

I was a new devotee of Eastern mysticism and even though I did not join that particular group, I could well have done. They seemed a bit extreme but I regarded myself as not quite ready.

It was not uncommon for the children to be told they were being treated this way because it was their bad karma and they must have hurt a child in a past life.