I think that if you just write your characters you end up with something that people can access.

One thing I am learning is to slow down. Multitasking is great, but I when try to do everything at warp speed I just end up with typos and stress.

I try to find the beauty in things. On dark days, I sit in my armchair looking at clouds and I am awed at how rain is made.

Half of what's wrong with people today is that they ain't got no place to go that makes them peaceful.

One of the things that writers worry about is finding a voice. I don't think it's a thing that you find so much as it is something that comes to you, or that presents itself.

Voice isn't fixed or unmalleable, it adapts to the characters you are creating and the story being told. I suppose in some way that's true in life - a little flexibility goes a long way.

Even if you don't feel like sitting down to write or working on that big proposal, or whatever it is, just show up anyhow and the rest will follow.

I've been writing all my life. Even though I didn't have sort of careerist aspirations as a writer, it was very much my identity.

Fiction writing is an act of imagination, lived experience is secondary in many ways, writing a novel really is all about inventing worlds and people.

All of us, writers and non-writers alike, have incredible well-springs of personal experience and history. And we also have imagination - which I think is a kind of human miracle.

The correlations between real life experience and the storylines in novels are never as direct or simple as they might seem.

Sow wisdom today, and you will reap success tomorrow.

Socialism, when the last word is said, is merely a new economic and political system whereby more men can get food to eat.

It's hard to do, but I think it's really important to go back and watch yourself.

Just spend a few more months playing video games. That hand-eye coordination will come in handy when you get to third base.

I tried to be as positive as possible, because I have the same birthday as Michael Jackson. He is my cosmic brother. I love him.

I don't count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. That is when I start counting, because then it really counts. That's what makes you a champion.

If you're willing to recognize the religious element in one secular ideology, you need to be able to recognize it in your own.

I feel like money makes you more of who you already are.

The more you understand me, the less characters I can play.

I'd like to own my own garage and my own fishery. I'd also like to be a professional fisherman. But I'll take whatever happens.