There is nothing that is quite so reassuring in an awkward situation as knowing that one is well turned-out, and while I hope I am not so fainthearted as to require such stratagems, I am not so foolish as to overlook their value.

Tell the story you want to tell, and let it be as long as it needs to be. Worry about marketing it later.

Of course it doesn't make sense." Lady Wendall said. "The rules of society rarely do.

Nothing you will object to," James replied in a soothing tone. I cannot think how he came to imagine that he would know what I might or might not object to.

That is certainly one way to look at the matter. There are others.

One of the things everybody seems to want to ask writers is, "Where do you get your ideas?" When people ask me this, my usual response is, "Ideas are the easy part. The hard part is writing them down."

Rennie didn't quite dare to answer back, but she looked a whole book and a couple of extra chapters.