A day without the sun is like you know, night Joe R. Lansdale More Quotes by Joe R. Lansdale More Quotes From Joe R. Lansdale If you don't toot your own horn, it goeth untooted. Joe R. Lansdale horn your own you 'The Bottoms' or 'A Fine Dark Line' are two of my favorites. Joe R. Lansdale line fine dark two I think the big thing is that Stephen King is just a phenomenon, and when he came along, for the first time horror was suddenly considered a very commercial genre. It had always been around, of course, but now, the books had the word 'horror' actually printed on their spines. Joe R. Lansdale king think first-time time Sometimes, if I don't write for a day or two, I get backed up - it's like constipation. Joe R. Lansdale day like sometimes two People who grew up on my books are now able to get the point across to others that they're worth reading. Joe R. Lansdale worth others reading people I think I built my reputation by not worrying about it. Joe R. Lansdale i-think about think reputation I don't plot, and I don't plan. I like to be surprised like the reader. Joe R. Lansdale surprised plan like plot A lot of friends I went to school with were criminals. Joe R. Lansdale were friends criminals school I tried to draw and write comics when I was four. By the time I was nine, I had written my first story - about my dog, of course. Joe R. Lansdale tried story dog time I think there are some people for whom words are like food. Joe R. Lansdale words think food people If I could take you back in time to the fifties and walk you around to some of the places where I grew up, you'd be trying to get back in your time machine. It wasn't all sock hops - matter of fact, I never saw a sock hop. Joe R. Lansdale walk you matter time I write what I hear. Joe R. Lansdale i-write hear write I used to just sit down and read the dictionary, and I read the Bible and Shakespeare from cover to cover. Joe R. Lansdale sit down just bible I was a house dad. Once, my wife was working as a dispatcher at the fire department, and I was staying home and writing while baby-sitting my son, who hardly ever slept. So I wrote in twenty-minute patches. Some of that early stuff is just dreadful. I got a thousand rejects. Joe R. Lansdale wife fire home son I love and respect the West - you can't live in Texas and not do that. Joe R. Lansdale live you respect love I turned out to be a tough, smart kid. Joe R. Lansdale out kid tough smart My mother wanted me to be a reader. She was a reader. Even though she had an 11th-grade education, she was curious about all kinds of things - archeology, anthropology. Joe R. Lansdale me curious mother education Ossie Davis is one of my heroes for civil rights and things like that. Joe R. Lansdale heroes things like rights My father always encouraged me to get an education, but he was also a guy that, when he was younger, had ridden the rails from town to town to box and wrestle for money. Joe R. Lansdale me money education father My father was just a hell of a guy. He had a real strong sense of honor, and he tried to pass that on to me. I like to think that I embrace that. Joe R. Lansdale me hell honor father