Oh Christ, he groaned to himself, if this is the stuff adults have to think about I never want to grow up

It's hard enough for a person to keep their own socks pulled up, let alone someone else's.

In the end we always wear out our worries. That’s what Wireman says.

I guess when you turn off the main road, you have to be prepared to see some funny houses.

I like to get ten pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words. That’s 180,000 words over a three-month span, a goodish length for a book — something in which the reader can get happily lost, if the tale is done well and stays fresh.

This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit.

But it's writing, damn it, not washing the car or putting on eyeliner. If you can take it seriously, we can do business. If you can't or won't, it's time for you to close the book and do something else. Wash the car, maybe.