Often you will discover that the harder you work, and the more wisely you work, the luckier you get. But there is luck, and it helps.

It doesn't matter that you didn't believe in us," said Mr. Ibis. "We believed in you.

I don't know if any single book made me want to write. C.S. Lewis was the first writer to make me aware that somebody was writing the book I was reading - these wonderful parenthetical asides to the reader.

Coraline opened the box of chocolates. The dog looked at them longingly. "Would you like one?" she asked the little dog. "Yes, please," whispered the dog. "Only not toffee ones. They make me drool." "I thought chocolates weren't very good for dogs," she said, remembering something Miss Forcible had once told her. "Maybe where you come from," whispered the little dog. "Here, it's all we eat.

Take what you have learned, and move on.

It begins, as most things begin, with a song.

On the whole, anything that gets you writing and keeps you writing is a good thing. Anything that stops you writing is a bad thing.