You never know which people will affect your life.

The beauty of word processing, God bless my word processor, is that it keeps the plotting very fluid. The prose becomes like a liquid that you can manipulate at will. In the old days, when I typed, every piece of typing paper was like cast in concrete.

Writing is self-taught. Consulting other people only teaches you to depend on their reactions, which may or may not be legitimate. Quit looking for approval ... Learn to evaluate your own work with a dispassionate eye ... the lessons you acquire will be all the more valuable because you've mastered your craft from within.

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

Of the first seven novels I wrote, numbers four and five were published. Numbers one, two, three, six, and seven, have never seen the light of day... and rightly so.

After my years in Hollywood, I got tired of apologizing for work that really wasn't mine to begin with.

Society values cooperation over independence, obedience over individuality, and niceness above all else.