The life most of us live are lives we are forced to live by immediate needs, influences, and pressures.

A lot of people... kind of make heroes that are separate from us, people who are, you know, like... John Wayne and Errol Flynn and, you know, Denzel Washington... people who are different, who are larger than life.

The first thing you have to know about writing is that it is something you must do everyday. There are two reasons for this rule: Getting the work done and connecting with your unconscious mind.

I think of writers as explorers, not necessarily as detectives. So there is certainly detecting that is going on - they're explorers.

Your book grows. The early part of your book is growing still while you are writing the later part of your book.

If you want to be a writer, you have to write every day... You don't go to a well once but daily. You don't skip a child's breakfast or forget to wake up in the morning.

Love makes you blind to your own survival. And if it doesn't then it's not love at all.