“I'm not an athiest. How can you not believe in something that doesn't exist? That's way too convoluted for me.”

“I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.”

“I never joined, but I used to go to church now and then. I liked it, because they always passed out plates of money at the end.”

“Plant trees. They give us two of the most crucial elements for our survival: oxygen and books.”

“You must want to enough. Enough to take all the rejections, enough to pay the price of disappointment and discouragement while you are learning. Like any other artist you must learn your craft—then you can add all the genius you like.”

“Problem, purpose, conflict, goal. Use them. Think about them while you are in the planning phase of your novel; keep these elements at the back of your mind to guide you while you write. When you have written a scene, make sure they are all there, or that if one or another is missing, it is intentional and the effect is what you want.”

“Sometimes instinct can be wrong. But sometimes it can be right too. And sometimes you just have to take it on faith.”