Writers need to be open to trying new things. My first bestseller was a cookbook, and from that experience I learned things about marketing a book that benefitted me greatly.

Believe in yourself and start achieving your dream. It waits for you on the other side of the publish button.

Honesty makes stories real and characters memorable. From there, taking them to where they need to go will be all the development they need.

You have to put yourself out there as a writer, you can’t play it safe.

Kids are flat-out freaking hilarious if you are paying attention. Not just my kid, but every kid.

Open your soul and put it out there and dare the world to read it, ready to have them stomp on you and laugh, but ready to do it again the next day.

The best part of being a writer is you get to tell people you’re a writer. That’s still considered cool.

Who do I think would appreciate my book?I’m surprised anybody does. Oops, did I say that out loud?

I wasn’t a class clown, because nuns have no sense of humor. They have rulers.

It’s amazing how my mind opens up right when I have to run on the treadmill. I’ve finished three chapters rather than run a mile.

I usually end have one outrageous minor character. He or she says the stuff I wish I had said in real life. Readers will love that character.

Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won't have as much censorship because we won't have as much fear.

A butler in an English household should, however, be English, and as much like an archbishop as possible.

You gotta wear the right trousers if you're gonna be a rock star.

America is best when we work in collaboration with our allies. America is best when we are actually standing up to evil in this world. And ISIS, make no mistake about it, is an evil in this world.

Let hopes and sorrows, fears and angers be, And think each day that dawns the last you'll see; For so the hour that greets you unforeseen Will bring with it enjoyment twice as keen.

An artist's life is supposed to lead toward his masterpiece, not away from it.

Let honor be to us as strong an obligation as necessity is to others.

It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.

Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.

Boxing brings out my aggressive instinct, not necessarily a killer instinct.