There are days when none of us can bear it, but the good comes around again. Happiness is seasonal, like anything else. Wait it out. There are people who love you. People who can help.

Age plays cruel tricks on the human face; all our repressed feelings become visible on the surface, where they harden like a mask.

Writing isn't about the destination-writing is the journey that transforms the soul and gives meaning to all else.

People who've had happy childhoods are wonderful, but they're bland... An unhappy childhood compels you to use your imagination to create a world in which you can be happy. Use your old grief. That's the gift you're given.

My notion of an elegant table is you don't leave the knife sticking out of the mayonnaise jar.

Dream big but think small.

Except for cases that clearly involve a homicidal maniac, the police like to believe murders are committed by those we know and love, and most of the time they're right - a chilling thought when you sit down to dinner with a family of five. All those potential killers passing their plates.