“The unfortunate thing about working for yourself is that you have the worst boss in the world. I work every day of the year except at Christmas, when I work a half day.”

“I used to tell interviewers that I wrote every day except for Christmas, the Fourth of July, and my birthday. That was a lie. I told them that because if you agree to an interview you have to say something, and it plays better if it’s something at least half-clever. Also, I didn’t want to sound like a workaholic dweeb (just a workaholic, I guess). The truth is that when I’m writing, I write every day, workaholic dweeb or not. That includes Christmas, the Fourth, and my birthday (at my age you try to ignore your goddam birthday anyway). And when I’m not working, I’m not working at all, although during those periods of full stop I usually feel at loose ends with myself and have trouble sleeping. For me, not working is the real work.”

“The worst thing about knowing that Gary Fairchild had been dead for a month was seeing him every day at work.”

“By faithfully working eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.”

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”

“These days I have to work twice as hard to look half as good.”