Author Quotes

I like playing around with the words; I love it when I feel like I've picked the exact right word to describe whatever it is I'm trying to describe.

Generally I finish a first draft in 2-6 months, then I set it aside for a while so that when I come back to it I can read it with fresh eyes and figure out how to improve it.

Eventually the bad stuff I'm writing turns into better stuff. Other times, I've just walked away from what I was working on, and figured I'd have a better perspective when I came back to it.

After I've sent my revised draft to my agent and editor, they suggest more improvement sand again, this revision phase can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months.

The deadlines are much, much longer with books. When I was a reporter, a lot of times I'd come in at 8:30 a.m., get an assignment right away, interview somebody, turn the story in by 9:30, and have the finished story in the paper that landed on my desk by noon.

Praise does wonders for our sense of hearing.

Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects.

Half a psychiatrist's patients see him because they are married - the other half because they're not.

Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignorance.

The trouble with the future is that is usually arrives before we're ready for it.

Progress is what happens when impossibility yields to necessity.

Nothing splendid was ever created in cold blood. Heat is required to forge anything. Every great accomplishment is the story of a flaming heart.

Make your life a mission - not an intermission.

Improvement begins with I.

Nothing lasts forever - not even your troubles.

The fewer the facts, the stronger the opinion.

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.

It is harder to conceal ignorance than to acquire knowledge.

Ideas not coupled with action never become bigger than the brain cells they occupied.

Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope.

The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.

An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied.

A consultant is someone who saves his client almost enough to pay his fee.

In life, as in football, you won't go far unless you know where the goalposts are.

Telling a teenager the facts of life is like giving a fish a bath.

Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.

A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.

Happy is the person who knows what to remember of the past, what to enjoy in the present, and what to plan for in the future.

Success is simple. Do what's right, the right way, at the right time.

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.