Work. Home. The pub. Meeting girls. Living in the city. Life. Is that all there is?

The right song can turn an emperor into a laughingstock, can bring down dynasties.

Until that moment she had never thought she could do it. Never thought she would be brave enough or scared enough, or desperate enough to dare.

Adventures are all very well in their place, but there's a lot to be said for regular meals and freedom from pain.

I knowed a man in Paphlagonia who'd swallow a live snake every morning, when he got up. He used to say, he was certain of one thing, that nothing worse would happen to him all day. 'Course they made him eat a bowlful of hairy centipedes before they hung him, so maybe that claim was a bit presumptive.

Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.

So I went out and bought myself a copy of the Writer and Artist Yearbook, bought lots of magazines and got on the phone and talked to editors about ideas for stories. Pretty soon I found myself hired to do interviews and articles and went off and did them.