When I pour a bowl of Uncle Sam’s cereal, I never know if I should stand when I eat, salute it first, or simply hum the Star Spangled Banner between mouthfuls.

I’ve had a fountain pen surgically implanted in my left index finger to save trouble. My body is tattooed with line upon line of truth, fiction, and a not-always-pleasing mix of the two.

I speak, I speak, and truth at that. Writers are a curious breed: brooding, fickle, alternately loving and hating their work—and each other. You’re my friend? Don’t pick up that pen!

Without the hard we stay too soft, and heaven is reduced to myths like life. Theology aside, it’s plain to see that God forbids we get too comfortable.

Today I fed him right off the bat, and only checked Facebook twice.

If a book can save—redeem us from the mediocrity of the mundane—surely, there must be a God.

Nonfiction. I didn’t choose it as much as it chose me. It squatted and birthed me one raw winter day then jerked me up and set me to scribing.

I think that’s why I write—the not knowing and the blasted good feeling I get out of it all.

Writing makes me hard, like a fisherman, and brown from the heat. Tossing out and reeling in is a job for visionaries and those with calloused hands.

In this book, much is metaphorical, not as it seems. It’s written for writing’s sake, as if I were to say, “Let me tell you I’m dying.” Well of course I am. So are you.

This world rubs me raw, scours me smooth like an SOS pad put to a grease-caked skillet. And pain: it stabs and scrapes and pulls me back to earth, my final B&B, that worm-spun cot of cool black sod.

I wanted to say thanks... and share my gratitude for everything I've been blessed with. Family, friends, and continued support from everyone.

The process of spotting fear and refusing to obey it is the source of all true empowerment.

I found a little beetle, so that beetle was his name

If sound doctrine is given up, the real Gospel of redemption by the blood of the Son of God is denied, worldliness follows.

The problem is we don't fight on the same level. We have laws that protect everybody.

Party domination and State leadership are concepts incompatible with one another.

Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.

The most successful and brilliant work a lighting designer can do is usually the least noticeable.

You cannot bring anything new into your life until you are grateful for what you have now.

Whether I'm in London, Sydney or Hong Kong, it makes no difference. There is always someone who knows me. I must be one of the most unloneliest people in the world!