Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.
Artistic talent is far more common than the talent to nurture artistic talent.
People who try hard to do the right thing always seem mad.
Did-a-chick? Dum-a-chum? Dad-a-cham? Ded-a-chek?
I’ve always said to people, "I don’t care what you call me as long as the checks don’t bounce and the family gets fed." But I never saw myself that way. I just saw myself as a novelist.
The water was glassy and calm, still candy-colored in the afterglow of sunset.