American Quotes

I can't tell you how hard I worked the last year. In fact, I worked so hard that I know I can't maintain that same work level in 2001, so I've got to quit something.

I began writing in the 4th grade. As a matter of fact, I produced a play for the entire school. It was about Leif Ericson and the discovery of America.

I am a struggling writer. A middle-aged man with two little kids and I'm just trying to earn a living. So buy this book - or my kids will have to go to foster care.

All I can really say is it's bloodier than hell. In this one I'm going to be much more direct and honest in my description of the actual killings and the crime scene.

The law has no compassion. And justice is administered without compassion.

I think it hurt my performance because I stopped being me. That won't ever happen again.

The events of the day inspired me to become a lawyer.

Visual storytelling of one kind or another has been around since cavemen were drawing on the walls.

To me, length is an artificial and arbitrary factor in a film.

Some of us have great original ideas and some of us depend on adaptations.

I think once you've finished a movie you really have to detach from it so that you can come back and watch it as an audience member.

I think a story should take as long to tell as it is appropriate to that particular story.

I am fascinated with times past.

Boy, I'd hate to shoot on tape or disc or whatever the hell they're talking about. I love film.

And I don't think I'm giving away any secrets here, but there are a lot of terrible scripts in this town.

A director shouldn't get in the way of the movie, the story should.

When my father would yell at me, I told myself someday I'd use it in a book.

The books are funny and sad, and that's what people respond to.

Sometimes it's easier to show than it is to tell.

Normally, I name my characters after famous comedians.

None of my characters seem to have had sex yet - I haven't written about that. And I wouldn't want to deal with what's happening in Oregon - the school shootings.

My father was a very unhappy person, very sarcastic, and my mother was very nervous and worried about what people thought. They weren't monsters, but it wasn't a good childhood.

I'm very lucky. I'm very fortunate that my books have never gone out of print - none of them.

I wish I had had my books when I was a kid, I do.

I want to keep meeting new people, enlarging my circle of friends. I have great friends now... really good people. But I'm always ready for what comes next.

I try to be careful because technology changes so much over the years. But some things don't change. Kids and parents have disagreements, kids try to manipulate, parents try to sit down with rules and regs. That part never changes.

I tried to write with someone else once before, but it was not successful.

I think my books talk about kids learning to like and respect themselves and each other. You can't write a message book; you just tell the best story you know how to tell.

I made the choice long ago to write about real life. And life is both serious and funny.

I deal with unhappy marriages a lot. I've never been married, I'm single.