I caution writers all the time to slow down and pay more attention to the work in front of them than to the end result. I don't think you write one book and get anywhere. I think you write five books and then maybe you are finally on the right path.

Insecure people have a special sensitivity for anything that finally confirms their own low opinion of themselves.

Ideas are easy. It's the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats.

Writing is not about making a buck, not about publishers and agents. Writing is not about feeling good. Writing is about pain, suffering, hard work, risk, and fear.

It's been my observation, after years in the [insurance] business, that a certain percent of the population simply can't resist the urge to cheat.

Everything happens for a reason, but that doesn't mean there's a point.

People in California seem to age at a different rate than the rest of the country. Maybe it's the passion for diet and exercise, maybe the popularity of cosmetic surgery. Or maybe we're afflicted with such a horror of aging that we've halted the process psychically.