I try to write 1,000 words a day - about three pages. When I reach 1,000 words I feel good. Less than that: a failure. More than that: tired.

It's a rare book that wins the battle against drooping eyelids.

Don't write about what you know - write about what you're interested in. Don't write about yourself - you aren't as interesting as you think.

I have spent my life waiting for something to happen,’ she said. ‘And I have come to understand that nothing will. Or it already has, and I blinked during that moment and it's gone. I don't know which is worse — to have missed it or to know there is nothing to miss.’ Falling Angels

That's how fossil hunting is: It takes over, like a hunger, and nothing else matters but what you find. And even when you find it, you still start looking again the next minute, because there might be something even better waiting.

I wanted to wear the mantle and the pearls. I wanted to know the man who painted her like that.

The sign of a masterpiece: A painting when there's a lack of resolution.