Jane Haddam Quotations

I tend to come up with people more than situations - most of my books start with a character.

People always seemed to know half of history, and to get it confused with the other half.

My husband used to take care of the business part of this, and after he died I found I wasn't really any good at it. I hate remembering who owes me what and bugging them if they haven't paid me.

I'd like to write a history, maybe of the Reformation.

I really hate those books where the murderer turns out to be somebody you never heard of who pops up in the last chapter.

I was the executive editor on a little magazine called Greek Accent, whose only claim to fame is that its art director went on to be the art director of Discover for many years.

I've been a teacher at the college level, in composition mostly, and I've been an editor on magazines.

Listen to advice. You don't know how many writer's conferences I've taught at where at least half the audience fights all the conventions of the field.

The Internet makes it possible for people like me to live the way I do now. Without it, I'd have to be in New York or some other city. I think the Internet is the greatest invention in history after antibiotics.

Knowledge pursued for its own sake - that's the definition of education, as opposed to training.

I don't make my own schedule - it's constructed around my sons' school schedules.

Nobody in real life ever takes me seriously.

Everybody is a True Believer. Everybody has a little nugget they're convinced of that is the opposite of the nugget on the other side. And they're convinced it's fact.

If there is no way out, the best course of action is to find a way further in.

Logic is a wonderful invention. It is so wonderful, people often mistake it for reason. Reason, however, requires sense. Logic requires only consistency.

If you don't burn the candle at both ends, what's the candle got two ends for?

You've either got to find a way to make your continuing characters insteresting without making them maudlin or overwrought, or you've got to put more emphasis on the suspects.

In my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no more of it than we had earned.

The best thing about a series is that it provides you with a continuing frame-you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you write a book.

In my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect... and no.