You discarded most of the lies along the way but held on to the one that said life mattered.

He had come to believe that life was a series of ironic ambushes. - Doctor Sleep

He would write it for the reason he felt that all great literature, fiction and nonfiction, was written: truth comes out, in the end it always comes out. He would write it because he felt he had to.

They were trying to run, trying to hide. But the rock would not hide them; the dead tree gave no shelter.

The quickest way to learn about a new place is to know what it dreams of.

The turtle couldn't help us.

Writing fiction, especially a long work of fiction, can be a difficult, lonely job; it's like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub. There's plenty of opportunity for self-doubt.