Understand death? Sure. That was when the monsters got you.

The shining. It was a good name, a comforting name, because she had always thought of it as a dark thing.

But I think there are a set of experiences that turn a potential writer into a working writer, and then there are places in your life were you start to recognize what you want to do.

When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,” he said. “When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.

When you own a piano, it's harder to think about moving.

The man in black smiled. "Shall we tell the truth then, you and I? No more lies?" I thought we had been." But the man in black persisted as if Roland hadn't spoken. "Shall there be truth between us, as two men? Not as friends, but as equals? There is an offer you will get rarely, Roland. Only equals speak the truth, that's my thought on't. Friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of regard. How tiresome!

A successful novel should interrupt the reader’s life, make him or her miss appointments, skip meals, forget to walk the dog.