If they aren't real enough to surprise me, then they aren't real enough to go on the page.

Storylines are how characters create the plots involved in their stories.

If they aren't real enough to surprise me, then they aren't real enough to go on the page.

I ride horseback - arthritic knees permitting - or listen to opera. Sometimes I cook. I used to do needlework, but it's hard on my hands now, so I only do it occasionally, but I like it. And, of course, I read.

I'm not a good collaborator in general.

I outline fairly extensively because I'm usually dealing with real events. I don't need to give myself as much information as I used to, but I still like to have two pages of outline for every projected 100 pages of manuscript.

Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?

Common folk didn't have last names in the 8th and 9th centuries.

Very few editors worry about heresy - their goals are much too commercial, thank goodness.

Providing a writer isn't put off by conventions - and some are - attending them can be a nice break from the necessary isolation of writing.

I think it is probably more important to attend specialized conventions for a journeyman writer than any other, but it's useful at all stages of a career, if for nothing else, to find out how the industry is working at any given time.

When you're a mid-list writer, it pays to write fast.

I myself have raised plenty of questions about Sarah Palin, much to the annoyance of the McCain campaign. But those questions have been about her qualifications and experience, never her appearance.

I'm not going to make it the all - everything. Our (the Saints) goal is to get better, make the playoffs and win the Super Bowl, but I'm not gonna anguish over it like I have in the past.

A blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks that is something.

You know, my goal, once I leave the music business, is like, 'Man, Lupe didn't lead us astray.' It comes directly from Islam: leading people astray is the worst thing you could do. Especially in perpetuity; like, your music continues to go on and live without you. That risk is too great for me; I'm gonna keep it positive.

When the purpose is big enough, we find the courage to move mountains.

In general, when moviemakers talk to scientists, they usually see them as a resource to solve particular technical problems or script problems for them. So, something like: what sort of weaponry would aliens be able to wield?

I have a healthy addiction to binge-watching TV.

I started out with machine code and assembly language.

We are extremely attractive to page companies, because we significantly increase their user base.

I'll make a horrible housewife. It's not like I'm disgusting, but I'm pretty bad about having a drink or eating something and then leaving the plate and rushing to go.

One never forgets faces one wholeheartedly detests.

One time, my mom told us, 'No TV.' It was 3 P.M., and I was sneaking it in. She put her hand on the back of the TV to see if it was warm, and it was. So she pulled the cord out of the wall, opened the second-floor window, and just threw it out the window.

One of my theories is to be captain on the field and off the field, you need to totally enjoy each other's company. I don't like discussing cricket off the field.

Anything can happen. The great banana peel of existence is always on the floor somewhere.

I like to isolate myself when I work because I end up losing my voice by doing interviews all day.

Being a leader gives you charisma. If you look and study the leaders who have succeeded, that's where charisma comes from, from the leading.

The 19th-century pure capitalist model of society was a pyramid, concentrations of enormous wealth in a small group at the top, a not very big middle-class in the middle, and an enormous percentage of the population in the bottom part of the pyramid.

In the distance, the Himalayan range flared into fluorescence, as its snowy peaks reflected the moonlight back at the velvet sky, split into half by the shimmering strip of the Milky Way.

It is amazing how quickly the kids learn to drive a car yet are unable to understand the lawn mower snowblower and vacuum cleaner.

Do what makes you happy. Keep it simple. Do the research. Work hard. Look ahead.

Personal brands have become anvils on which great businesses are forged

A writer has to live with a sense of honor.

I come from a background where I like collaboration and improv. I think that it is important.

I'm not saying it's easy, and it's definitely harder for women. Because there is definitely a double standard about gorgeous older men, and it's different for older women.