American Quotes

Every guy I know has some sort of freak injury in their body.

But my happiness in this world - my level of peace - is never going to be dictated by acting.

All my good movies, nobody sees.

When I found out I had to take off my shirt in 'Teen' movie, I panicked and hit the gym. I was like, 'It's going to be on film, documented, for my children to see. I can't be 140 pounds. I need to put on a little bit of muscle.'

I swear to God, if you saw me when I am by myself in the woods, I'm a lunatic. I sing, I dance.

I am single and not looking to be in a relationship.

For a long time all I wanted for Christmas were books about outdoor survival. I was convinced that the woods were calling me. I camped a lot, I took classes. At 18, I told myself if I don't live in the woods by myself by the time I'm 25, I have failed.

What if I couldn't handle people's opinions of me? I know that shouldn't dictate a person's degree of peace or happiness in life, but the problem is, I chose a business saturated in judgment.

I can handle the craziness some of the time, maybe most of the time. But I know I can't handle it all of the time.

The comic book world is so dangerous, you know what I mean? You say one thing and people - they're ravenous - they are very opinionated fans. But they're great fans.

Anyone who's had a tattoo knows once you get your first one, as you're walking out the door, you're planning the next.

I always say that the times in my life when I've been happiest are the times when I've seen, like, a sunset.

You can get through very serious and sometimes horrible and sometimes embarrassing and very awkward situations with humor. It gives us a way out.

We don't appreciate the value of humor sometimes.

The 'Barnaby' books were always intended to be graphic novels.

Somewhere along the line, I realized that I liked telling stories, and I decided that I would try writing. Ten years later, I finally got a book published. It was hard. I had no skills. I knew nothing about the business of getting published. So I had to keep working at it.

Since I can barely write two books a year the best solution seems to be co-author projects. My goal isn't to get another writer to clone me... it's more to produce a book that shares my vision of positive, fun entertainment.

If you want to cry, you're not going to like my books.

I've finally reached a stage in my career where I can do what I want.

I'm a real voyeur.

I wasn't always a writer. When I went to college and majored in fine arts, I was a painter. Then I was a stay-at-home mom.

I took all of my rejection letters - there must have been thousands of them in a huge box - and I went out on the curb and burned them all, crying.

I think that some books are more successful than others to certain readers. People who read my books for the humor, they're going to love one book. People who read my books for the mystery, they might not like that book quite as much.

I take in a lot of stuff from real life, movies, television, news and it all gets mixed in my head and somehow turns into a story idea.

I struggled to learn basic skills, get a grip on markets, find my own unique voice, create story lines and come up to speed with the industry. I struggled for ten years before having any success.

I like being able to provide consistent and frequent literary choices for my fans.

I go to bars and restaurants, and I sit and I eavesdrop on people and I watch people in shopping centers and, you know, I read the newspapers and I talk to the Trenton cops, and I just get a lot of information that comes in that somehow turns into a book.

I don't want my readers slowed down by long passages of narrative.

I actually really suck at naming books, so lots of years ago, readers were sending in their ideas for titles, and what we realized is that they were smarter than us. So we thought, Hey, go for it. So now we have a contest every year.

Um, well, I made a new CD called 'Dream With Me' and it's out now, and I'm really excited about it.