“hope had become despair, protestors had become terrorists, love had become sex, music had become noise, and us had become me.”

“As with most things, my approach to writing has been entirely ass-backwards. I first had to become everything but a writer -- exhaust all possibilities. I had to come to it on my knees. Only when there was truly nothing left, was I able to become a writer.”

“I was on the way to becoming a duchess, and I had made the Kingmaker angry. What more could a child of seven have accomplished in one day?”

“He came face-to-face with the rude paradox fame had dealt him: The secret of his extraordinary art had been his ability to observe human interaction anonymously, thereby gaining insight into the emotions on display in ordinary life--it was his ability to become a fly-on-the-wall that made him famous, and fame had destroyed his ability to become a fly-on-the-wall.”

“John, you look like crap warmed over."He nodded, walking into the conference room for what had now become their daily meeting.Thanks, Tom. I needed that.”

“He either had to stop making me flustered as hell, or I had to quit the Cap’n Crunch. Could a grown man go cold turkey off the Cap’n?”

“Lights," I said softly. This had become my favorite word over the past week. In my mind, it had become synonymous with freedom.”