In a world of lies and liars, an honest work of art is always an act of social responsibility.
In life two negatives don't make a positive. Double negatives turn positive only in math and formal logic. In life things just get worse and worse and worse.
The material of literary talent is words; the material of story talent is life itself.
Never sleep with anybody who has more problems than you do.
Influence is just persuasion in slow motion.
Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliche, it's the key to victory over fear and it's cousin, depression.