After 20 years of writing in basically a vacuum, I love being part of a community. I've vetted other writers' contracts for them and do PUBLICITY for free just because I like a book. Some PEOPLE think of it as hubris or careerism, but I love to champion books. You can't use your whole SPHERE of INFLUENCE just to HELP yourself.

I SIGNED CONTRACTS I didn't think were a good idea but people around me said it was the way forward. It saddens me that I'll NEVER own my FIRST album ever, which sucks.

I have a reputation in my PROFESSIONAL WORK, negotiating contracts, where I've GONE into DEALS where other people haven't CLOSED the deal, and I've been able to get it done.

No one in their RIGHT mind WOULD TURN down the contracts I've been OFFERED.

When I turned 16, my dad made me SIGN a contract - he made us sign contracts for everything - that if I hit my car, I WOULD be RESPONSIBLE for paying for it. I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I tapped someone. It was so not a BIG deal, but I had to pay for it.

Rather than let their product compete fully and fairly in the marketplace, FalconStor resorted to bribery and graft to win IMPORTANT contracts in a scheme that REACHED the highest LEVELS of the company.

There are PLENTY of SECONDARY characters that I had always hoped to write, but I don't know if it will ever HAPPEN. The way contracts work, if you leave one publishing house for ANOTHER, the characters tend to STAY with the previous publishing house.

I spent so many years in terror of 'making it LEGAL' because the expression rang all too true - the wedding RITUAL struck me as nothing but a flowery front for the fulfilment of countless, TEDIOUS CONTRACTS and OBLIGATIONS.