Formula for a great day:

Drink good coffee,

read good books.

Virginia Hamilton, on writing:

I can’t explain how it is I keep having new ideas.

But one book inevitably follows another.

It is my way of exploring the known,

the remembered,

and the imagined,

the literary triad of which all stories are made.

- Virginia Hamilton.

Don't forget to recharge your minds every night:

Read to recharge your mind.

Reading stimulates the imagination.

Frank Herbert, on writing:

There is no real ending.

It's just the place where you stop the story.

- Frank Herbert.

Books or TV? Books. Every time:

Books or TV?

Books.

Every time.

P. D. James, on writing:

Don't just plan to write - write.

It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.

- P. D. James.

When you read a line that is so well-written ...

When you read a line that is so well-written, you just close the book and stare at the wall for a minute...

- Anonymous.

Jesse Owens, on dreams:

We all have dreams.

But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.

- Jesse Owens.

The movie compared to the book ...

Mary Roberts Rinehart, on writing:

The mystery story is two stories in one:

the story of what happened and the story of what appeared to happen.

- Mary Roberts Rinehart.

A comfortable chair is no use to anyone without a good book:

Anne Lamott, on books:

For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth.

What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world,

worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you.

Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave.

They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.

- Anne Lamott.

Why we read:

Ann Patchett, on writing:

That's the way I work.

I get it all plotted in my mind, and then I write it down.

- Ann Patchett.

Behind every stack of books is a flood of knowledge:

Behind every stack of books is a flood of knowledge.

Graham Greene, on writing:

A story has no beginning or end:

arbitrarily one chooses that moment from which to look back or from which to look ahead.

- Graham Greene.

P. D. James, on words:

Increase your word power.

Words are the raw material of our craft.

- P. D. James.

Larry L. King, on writing:

Write.

Rewrite.

When not writing or rewriting, read.

I know of no shortcuts.

- Larry L. King.

Ruth Rendell, on reading:

Some say life is the thing,

but I prefer reading.

- Ruth Rendell.

C. S. Lewis, on writing:

You can make anything by writing.

- C. S. Lewis.