There's a certain class of people who will do you in and then remain completely mystified by the depth of your pain.

I made the rules I figured I could be the one to break them. I thought I would write about xenophobia, a hatred of foreigners. After I stated writing the story there was not a foreigner to be had. I did not want to just stick one in there so I could get a title out of it since it seemed like cheating. I never figured out how I could get out of this dilemma so I just called it X and weaved X traits into the story.

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

I started writing seriously when I was 18, wrote my first novel when I was 22, and I've never stopped writing since.

Happiness is seasonal, like anything else

There was an author who titled his books by days of the weeks and another one that used colors. Then there was Edward Gorey who wrote the book The Gashlycrumb Tinies, about the untimely death of 26 Victorian children, each representing a letter of the alphabet. I thought what a great way to link the titles.

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.