She ransacked her mind but there was nothing in it

Obviously the imagination is fueled by emotions beyond the control of the conscious mind.

All that matters in life is forging deep ties of love and family and friends. Writing and reading come later.

Often in gothic novels there's a large house, an estate, and it's symbolic of that culture. Usually it's sort of moldering or rotted or something, and sometimes it's a whole community.

You need so much energy and encouragement to write that if someone says something negative, some of that energy goes.

the United States government was at the mercy of special-interest groups, lobbies like the National Rifle Association and the American Medical Association, the automobile and oil industries, every kind of defense manufacturer, how could democracy be served?