The most important training, though, is to experience life as a writer, questioning everything, inventing multiple explanations for everything. If you do that, all the other things will come; if you don't, there's no hope for you.

You know how writers are... they create themselves as they create their work. Or perhaps they create their work in order to create themselves.

I listen to music constantly while writing.

As he thought of it, though, he could not imagine what “just living” might actually be. He had never done it in his life. But he wanted to do it anyway.

In all my study of history, I have never found a time or place I would rather have lived than now.

Thanks from keeping me from being a liar," said Nikolai. "What?" "About your having diarrhea." "For you I'd get dysentery." "Now that's friendship.

Peter, you're twelve years old. I'm ten. They have a word for people our age. They call us children and they treat us like mice.