When I write a book, I'm making it the best book I can.

Reading a novel in which all characters illustrate patience, hard work, chastity, and delayed gratification could be a pretty dull experience.

What I look for in any character, good or bad, is whether I can hear him speak. If I can imagine him that clearly, then I can write about him.

If you'll think about various series you've read, can you think of any instance in which, say, the tenth volume of the series is notably better than the first nine? I can't.

I do want to write about Jane Whitefield again, but only when I have a good enough idea - something I've figured out about her that's news and that's worth a reader's time.

When I write a book, I'm making it the best book I can.

Much of what we do in life has a huge component of luck.

I do like to explore evil characters in my books.

I don't have dry seasons, because I don't allow them.

It was a lot of fun, and writing a series is comfortable. It's almost like having a secure job.

There are days when I intentionally don't write. For instance, I never write when I'm traveling, because travel is a situation where I can learn more by looking and listening than by working.

I don't think the problem is that people don't read enough mystery books, but that people don't read.

But at the same time, the commonplace statement about them is true: every character is the hero of his own story. Each has a justification for his actions that is convincing to him. It's fun to give these people voices.

I think we did a great job of putting together a program that would have made good e-books available had people been buying e-books in any real numbers.

I do try not to spend much time reading in the suspense genre.

The characters you refer to as predatory and unsavory are useful. They're the ones who make a novel into a thriller. They're active, and most of the common virtues, the signs of a good person, are not.

I do hope to bring Jane Whitefield back before too long.

I had been writing fiction since I was in eighth grade, because I loved it.

Contrary to what many writers imply about the process, nobody forces a writer to sell his work to the film industry.

You have very accurately described the difficulty of presenting my books on film: many of my characters are alone most of the time, and when they do talk, what they say is mostly lies. That can make for a pretty confusing film.

If I don't have a project going, I sit down and begin to write something - a character sketch, a monologue, a description of some sight, or even just a list of ideas.

Yes, in my books I do edit myself to keep from becoming the Village Explainer.

Once you have invented a character with three dimensions and a voice, you begin to realize that some of the things you'd like him to do to further your plot are things that such a person wouldn't, or couldn't, do.

I don't consciously do anything to maintain a unique voice.

It's important, I think, for a writer of fiction to maintain an awareness of the pace and shape of the book as he's writing it. That is, he should be making an object, not chattering.

I do have to earn a living, so I'm conscious of probable reactions from readers, but the most important one is still the awareness that if I'm not enjoying a story, the reader won't either.

Being comfortable isn't the way to learn to expand your abilities.

I held a variety of jobs - most notably ten years working in universities - and kept on writing.

All writers are mimics, and I'm not interested in picking up somebody else's style or voice.

Somewhere in the ocean, a shark was missing its cold eyes because this man had them.

It is amazing how many hints and guides and intuitions for living come to the sensitive person who has ears to hear what his body is saying.

Bernie Madoff is probably more nuanced then I'm giving him credit for, but I just couldn't get under his skin.

Go ahead and play the blues if it'll make you happy.

That's the cool thing, when I get to work with people I love. The biggest has probably been Kris Kristofferson on 'Bloodworth.'

I had a quick grasp of the secret to sanity, it had become the ability to hold the maximum of impossible combinations in one's mind.

I wasn't actually very naturally good at economics. My brain doesn't work very well, in terms of mathematics.

My mother came from a generation that did not want nannies. She had her first child at 24 and her last - me - at 42.

The age of innocent faith in science and technology may be over.

Show me the artist anywhere who's had an utterly stable mental life, and I'll buy you hot dinners for the rest of your life.

You don't get old being stupid.

Its obviously a headache for all of us the bowlers the captain to the support staff.

I like writing dialog but don't think I'd be much good at a screenplay. I once had to write a treatment for a novel of mine - a condition of its being optioned by a movie producer - and I turned out something pretty lackluster. So my inclination would be to stay out of the way of an experienced screenwriter.

Self-government does not and should not imply the use of political agencies alone. Progress is born of cooperation in the community - not from governmental restraints.

I was such a massive fan of all the '60s pop bands, but if I had to single out one band, it would definitely be The Beatles.

I was never overexposed and work never became a chore. I was a very good girl wanting to do a good job.

Friendship is Love without his wings!

More than fantasy or even science fiction, Ray Bradbury wrote horror, and like so many great horror writers he was himself utterly without fear, of anything. He wasn't afraid of looking uncool - he wasn't scared to openly love innocence, or to be optimistic, or to write sentimentally when he felt that way.

With Sumthin Else Music Works, I wanted to spread the love and give newcomers a chance to make it because something that really helped me were all the people who had given me an opportunity when I was putting my career together.

I believe we live in a love-starved society. Everywhere you go there are probably people who haven't had the right kind of love in their lives.