And I guess you judge how well you're doing by how well you sleep at night... and what your dreams are like.

Talent is a wonderful thing, but it won't carry a quitter.

I changed it. I had to. Do you know why?" She studied him, her eyes grave. "Because that was then and this is now. Because the past is gone, even though it defines the present.

Writers are often the worst judges of what they have written.

I always drank, from when it was legal for me to drink. And there was never a time for me when the goal wasn't to get as hammered as I could possibly afford to. I never understood social drinking, that's always seemed to me like kissing your sister.

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

and the rain went rollin down the windowpanes, and the shadows wiggled n' squiggled on her check and forehead like black veins.