If you have a craftsman's command of the language and basic writing techniques you'll be able to write - as long as you know what you want to say.

I've often said that there's no such thing as writer's block; the problem is idea block.

God don’t give out certain.

Well,” she said softly. “Just like a sculptor to get hurt by flying rock. Good thing you don’t collect razor blades and knives.

Family is about love and affection but about friction and separation, too. Yet, with work and luck, the distances – geographic and emotional – can be shrunk, even made to vanish.

Ross Macdonald.

I’m not a bad person.” Zagaev looked up at me with imploring eyes. Claims of ethical purity are a common strategy in games like this. But they’re paper, forever losing to scissors.

You know, Lincoln, my father always said you can never trust anybody when they answer a question with a question.

Loving was playing a Bayesian game now, one modeled on imperfect information.

Everyone stared at me now. I’d studied linguistics a long time ago. A little philology too, the study of languages from analyzing texts. Mostly for the fun of it, but the subject came in useful sometimes. Ellis.