Every book is like starting over again. I've written books every way possible - from using tight outlines to writing from the seat of my pants. Both ways work.
I do believe that any successful business starts from the top and works its way down.
I think my approach to a creative career was very entrepreneurial. Even though I'm a writer, I've always viewed my work much in the same way as a startup or marketer might view their work.
Education standards need to be set at the state level. High standards are an important way to ensure that the education system we are funding is actually working and producing, at a minimum, what we would expect it to.
I was lucky to grow up at a time when it was not difficult for the child of a tenant farmer to make his way to the state university.
I might not like a statute... but if you know what to expect, you can plan. The law is static. It's stable. It gives you confidence. You know you have to act a certain way.
Any writer my age almost can't get away from being influenced by Kurt Vonnegut, partially because of his simple, clear way of stating things. To read Vonnegut is to learn how to use economy words.
California has always led the way on environmental protection and always reaped the benefits, pioneering everything from catalytic convertors on cars to stationary source reduction.
The key is to stay level headed. Not get too high with the highs. At the same time, you need to stay strong when things aren't going your way.
I've never looked at myself and said that I need to be a certain way to be around a certain sort of people. I've always wanted to stay true to myself, and I've managed to do that. People have to accept that.
There are so many ways to characterize evolutionary success. If one criterion is the number of millions of years that the species persists, we're still just infants. We're way too young of a species to tell if we were a creative fluke or if we have any staying power.
I felt like any other American kid. I already worked at a steady job as an ice cream scooper, but I didn't feel less in any way than my more affluent friends from school.
If you happen to tell me where you were born, your date of birth and that kind of information, then I'm 98 percent of the way to stealing your identity.
I'm just trying to affect the game in some way whenever I get an opportunity. If that's stealing a base, making a catch, beating out a double play, whatever it may be.
The terrorist uses surprise and stealth, and the only way to defeat that is by having accurate and timely intelligence.
My favorite way to blow off steam is to sing obnoxiously loud in the shower.
I do not abuse players. I talk to myself; I abuse myself. It's my way of letting off steam. I do it after every century; I do not do it always. I keep telling myself: 'Improve, improve from the previous match, the previous shot. You can do it.'
Actors need steely determination. It's a tough profession with plenty of knocks along the way. You have to be very determined and never take 'no' for an answer.
Jazz was the pop music of its day, and all American popular music has stemmed from it one way or another.
What I'm doing is British. It stems from the same culture as U.S. hip-hop, but the way we dress, the way we speak, the way we perform is so different. It's U.K. street culture.
