I write in the afternoon, from about 12 until 6 or 7. I use an upstairs room as my office. Once I get going I keep at it, and it usually takes about six months from the first blank screen until 'The End. Lee Child More Quotes by Lee Child More Quotes From Lee Child Practically any Western has a homesteader in trouble, and a mysterious rider shows up off the range, solves the problem over two or three days, and then rides off into the sunset. Lee Child sunset three two I have three desks. One empty for paperwork, one for the internet and email, and one for the writing computer. Lee Child email three writing I went to college. West Point is technically a college. Lee Child west-point west college Slippery slope. I carry a spare shirt, pretty soon I'm carrying spare pants. Then I'd need a suitcase. Next thing I know, I've got a house and a car and a savings plan and I'm filling out all kinds of forms. Lee Child car house needs No, I'm a man with a rule. People leave me alone, I leave them alone. If they don't, I don't. Lee Child leave-me-alone men people Lone women shouldn't stop in the middle of nowhere for giant unkempt strangers with duct tape on their faces. Lee Child middle-of-nowhere tape giants The best fights are the ones you don't have", a wise man once said to me. Lee Child fighting wise men Now they broke my toothbrush, I don't own anything. Lee Child toothbrushes broke He looked at the pain and he set himself apart from it. He saw it, examined it, identified it, corralled it. He isolated it. He challenged it. You against me? Dream on, pal. He built borders for it. Then walls. He built walls and forced the pain behind them and then he moved the walls inward, compressing the pain, crushing it, boxing it in, limiting it, beating it. Lee Child crush wall dream He had fallen out of the ugly tree, and hit every branch. Lee Child redneck ugly tree Anecdotally his fitness reports rated him well above average in the classroom, excellent in the field, fluently bilingual in English and French, passable in Spanish, outstanding on all man-portable weaponry, and beyond outstanding at hand-to-hand combat. Susan knew what that last rating meant. Like having a running chainsaw thrown at you Lee Child running average men I was in television drama, which is a first cousin to the movies, and I trust myself to make the right decisions. Lee Child cousin decision drama Evaluate. Long experience had taught me to evaluate and assess. When the unexpected gets dumped on you, don’t waste time. Don’t figure out how or why it happened. Don’t recriminate. Don’t figure out whose fault it is. Don’t work out how to avoid the same mistake next time. All of that you do later. If you survive. Lee Child work-out mistake long Never forget a Favor, Never forgive a Slight! Lee Child forgiving never-forget favors For me the end of a book is just as exciting as it is for a reader. Lee Child ends exciting book I'm not really into gourmet food; I'm the kind of guy who just stops by a place that looks good rather than heading for the restaurant of the moment. Lee Child gourmet guy looks I'd been a thriller reader all my life. Lee Child thrillers reader I was fired from my television job, simple as that. Well, downsized, really, a classic 1990s situation. Lee Child simple jobs television I'm not a vagrant... I'm a hobo. Big difference. Lee Child vagrants hobos differences You mustn't fall in love with your own hero. Lee Child you hero love fall