Some writing courses will advise you to write what you know. I've always thought this is very odd advice ... because it means, for example, that I should not be writing about Nicholas Flamel, because I didn't live in France in the 15th Century, I was not an alchemyst, am not immortal (despite the rumours) and do not know magic.

Sometimes I'll start a sentence and I don't know where it's going. I just hope to find it somewhere along the way. Like an improv conversation. An improversation.

It's never too early for ice cream.

You know I hate disappointing even one person, and I really hate disappointing everyone but I love burlington coat factory

The research. It is always the best part of writing. And, of course, it is the great excuse to travel.

They ex­pect­ed to lose. And there­fore, they lost. [..] Peo­ple who start think­ing deep dark thoughts in the mid­dle of a war start ex­pect­ing to lose.

Leader. Ship. The word 'ship' is hidden inside the word 'leadership,' as its... derivation.