Approach your lives as if they were novels, with their own heroes, villains, red herrings, and triumphs.

Writing is storytelling. No matter how you slice it, you're saying, 'Once upon a time.' That's what writing is all about.

Funny, when you finally faced reality, it was amazing how clearly you could see things.

The truth is I hate cocktail parties when the only person I know is my supposed date, and he abandons me the minute we come in the door.

Approach your lives as if they were novels, with their own heroes, villains, red herrings, and triumphs.

As a writer, you paint strokes and leave suggestions so readers can create their own pictures. That allows you to know someone by a small action and it saves countless pages of explanation.

I am a natural optimist but there were times when (it seemed like) I was doing nothing but adding up on the back of envelope what I had to pay this month.