Sue Grafton Quotes
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Dream big but think small.
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I read the paper every day. There are certain subjects that will catch my attention. I have an entire file of articles. Of course I make up the story, especially since most criminals are not very smart and fictional crime must be clever. I have to make sure the story I am telling is interesting and realistic. In this book I went on line and found out the manners of codes. I thought it interesting to use them as a jumping off point.
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Having reached the halfway mark in the alphabet, my prime focus is on writing each new book as well as I can.
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I attended the University of Louisville my freshman year, transferred to what was then Western Kentucky State Teachers College for my sophomore and junior years, and then graduated from the University of Louisville in the summer of 1961.
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Of the first seven novels I wrote, numbers four and five were published. Numbers one, two, three, six, and seven, have never seen the light of day... and rightly so.
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People talk about dysfunctional families; I've never seen any other kind.
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I figure guys are like Whitman's Samplers. I like to take a little bite out of each and then move on before the whole box gets stale.
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People get careless when they're feeling safe.
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For the record, I'd like to say that I'm a big fan of forgiveness as long as I have a chance to get even first" Kinsey Millhone, V is for Vengeance
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You never know which people will affect your life.
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I spent the first twenty years of my writing career preparing for the mystery genre, which is my favorite literary form.
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Age plays cruel tricks on the human face; all our repressed feelings become visible on the surface, where they harden like a mask.
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Emotion doesn't travel in a straight line. Like water, our feelings trickle down through cracks and crevices, seeking out the little pockets of neediness and neglect, the hairline fractures in our character usually hidden from public view.
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I write letters to my right brain all the time. They're just little notes. And right brain, who likes to get little notes from me, will often come through within a day or two.
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There are days when none of us can bear it, but the good comes around again. Happiness is seasonal, like anything else. Wait it out. There are people who love you. People who can help.
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I think you'd best make your peace with the past since you've come this far. I think you know by now that you won't go back again.
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My primary lesson, however, was that I'm a solo writer, happiest when I'm making all the executive decisions. I've always been willing to rise or fall on my own merits.
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Beware the dark pool at the bottom of our hearts. In its icy, black depths dwell strange and twisted creatures it is best not to disturb.
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There are laws for everything except the harm families do.
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Who knows what part we play in other people's dreams?
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My father taught me to love detective fiction writers such as Raymond Chandler. When I decided to have a hard-boiled detective series I did a lot of studying before I wrote the first book. I learned police procedure, the California criminal law, and many areas outside my expertise.
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Sometimes being fooled by love is worth the price. At least you know you're alive and capable of feeling, even if all you end up with is chest pain.
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School was a source of great suffering to me, but once I learned to read, I disappeared into books, where I was a happy visitor to all the worlds that sprang full-blown from the printed page.
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When all else fails, cleaning house is the perfect antidote to most of life's ills.