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A Is For Alibi, My First Book, Was Published In 1982. As It Happened The Next Couple Of Books Took Place In June And August Of That Year. Without Meaning To I Painted Myself Into A Corner. The Other Issue Was The Aging Process. I Did Not Want My Main Character To Age One Year For Every Book So I Slowed The Whole Process Down. This Way I Could Get Through All 26 Letters Of The Alphabet Without Making Her 109 Years Old In 2015. I Might End The Series In Either 1990 Or On New Years Eve 1989.

-Sue Grafton

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A Is For Alibi,

Sue Grafton

...

A Is For Alibi, My First Book, Was Published In 1982. As It Happened The Next Couple Of Books Took Place In June And August Of That Year. Without Meaning To I Painted Myself Into A Corner. The Other Issue Was The Aging Process. I Did Not Want My Main Character To Age One Year For Every Book So I Slowed The Whole Process Down. This Way I Could Get Through All 26 Letters Of The Alphabet Without Making Her 109 Years Old In 2015. I Might End The Series In Either 1990 Or On New Years Eve 1989.

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Grief Is As Contagious As A Yawn.

Poise And Indifference So Often Look The Same.

Beware The Dark Pool At The Bottom Of Our Hearts. In Its Icy, Black Depths Dwell Strange And Twisted Creatures It Is Best Not To Disturb.

I Read The Paper Every Day. There Are Certain Subjects That Will Catch My Attention. I Have An Entire File Of Articles. Of Course I Make Up The Story, Especially Since Most Criminals Are Not Very Smart And Fictional Crime Must Be Clever. I Have To Make Sure The Story I Am Telling Is Interesting And Realistic. In This Book I Went On Line And Found Out The Manners Of Codes. I Thought It Interesting To Use Them As A Jumping Off Point.

Personally, I'd Rather Grow Old Alone Than In The Company Of Anyone I've Met So Far. I Don't Experience Myself As Lonely, Incomplete, Or Unfulfilled, But I Don't Talk About That Much. It Seems To Piss People Off--especially Men. (kinsey Millhone)

Lying Contains The Same Hostile Elements As A Practical Joke In That The 'victim' Ends Up Looking Foolish In His Own Eyes And Laughable In Everyone Else's.

When All Else Fails, Cleaning House Is The Perfect Antidote To Most Of Life's Ills.

I Figure Guys Are Like Whitman's Samplers. I Like To Take A Little Bite Out Of Each And Then Move On Before The Whole Box Gets Stale.

God Save Us From The People Who Want To Do What's Best For Us.

Thinking Is Hard Work, Which Is Why You Don't See Many People Doing It.

The Character Of Rosie Is Based On A Woman Who Used To Live In The Same Apartment Building I Lived In Many Years Ago. She's Taken On A Life Of Her Own, Of Course.

I Made The Rules I Figured I Could Be The One To Break Them. I Thought I Would Write About Xenophobia, A Hatred Of Foreigners. After I Stated Writing The Story There Was Not A Foreigner To Be Had. I Did Not Want To Just Stick One In There So I Could Get A Title Out Of It Since It Seemed Like Cheating. I Never Figured Out How I Could Get Out Of This Dilemma So I Just Called It X And Weaved X Traits Into The Story.

Kinsey Was Never A Lawyer. She's Strictly Blue Collar.

Sometimes Being Fooled By Love Is Worth The Price. At Least You Know You're Alive And Capable Of Feeling, Even If All You End Up With Is Chest Pain.

It Is A Truth Of Human Nature That We Can Ponder Life's Mysteries For Only So Long Before We Lose Interest And Move On To Something Else.

Happiness Is Seasonal, Like Anything Else

You Can't Make Anyone Love You And You Can't Stop Anyone From Dying.

No One With A Happy Childhood Ever Amounts To Much In This World. They Are So Well Adjusted, They Never Are Driven To Achieve Anything.

People Who've Had Happy Childhoods Are Wonderful, But They're Bland... An Unhappy Childhood Compels You To Use Your Imagination To Create A World In Which You Can Be Happy. Use Your Old Grief. That's The Gift You're Given.

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Grief Rolled Across The Space Between Us Like A Wash Of Salt Water.

My Primary Lesson, However, Was That I'm A Solo Writer, Happiest When I'm Making All The Executive Decisions. I've Always Been Willing To Rise Or Fall On My Own Merits.

People In California Seem To Age At A Different Rate Than The Rest Of The Country. Maybe It's The Passion For Diet And Exercise, Maybe The Popularity Of Cosmetic Surgery. Or Maybe We're Afflicted With Such A Horror Of Aging That We've Halted The Process Psychically.

All Of Us Are Subjected To Somebody Else's Power At Some Point. So Once In A While You Kiss Ass. So What? Either You Make Your Peace With That Early, Or You End Up Living Your Life As A Crank And A Misfit.

Perhaps When We're Forced To Forfeit What We Own, We Lose Any Sentimental Associations. Perhaps Pawning Our Valuables Frees Us In The Same Way A House Fire Destroys Not Only Our Worldly Goods, But Our Attachment To What's Gone.

In My Opinion, There's No Condition In Life That Can't Be Ameliorated By A Dose Of Junk Food.

My Notion Of An Elegant Table Is You Don't Leave The Knife Sticking Out Of The Mayonnaise Jar.

He Might Be A Man Without Character, But She Was A Woman Without Courage. Of The Two, Which Was Worse?

There's A Certain Class Of People Who Will Do You In And Then Remain Completely Mystified By The Depth Of Your Pain.

Except For Cases That Clearly Involve A Homicidal Maniac, The Police Like To Believe Murders Are Committed By Those We Know And Love, And Most Of The Time They're Right - A Chilling Thought When You Sit Down To Dinner With A Family Of Five. All Those Potential Killers Passing Their Plates.

My Father Taught Me To Love Detective Fiction Writers Such As Raymond Chandler. When I Decided To Have A Hard-boiled Detective Series I Did A Lot Of Studying Before I Wrote The First Book. I Learned Police Procedure, The California Criminal Law, And Many Areas Outside My Expertise.

Ghosts Don't Haunt Us. That's Not How It Works. They're Present Among Us Because We Won't Let Go Of Them.

Writing Is A Process And You Must Trust The Process! Fear And Anxiety Are Part Of That Process Along With The Enthusaism And The Good Days And The Joy And The Passion And The Great Hopes You Have For A Book. But When You Run Into Problems, When You Get Stuck Or Scared, You Must Trust That That Is Part Of How A Book Comes To Pass, And What You Need To Do Is Get Very Still And Quiet Because Self Will Tell You How To Get Out Of A Hole You've Dug For Yourself.

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The Critical Lessons In Life Hold Sway Whether You Like It Or Not.

I Love Being Single. It's Almost Like Being Rich.

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If Your Mind Isn't Open, Keep Your Mouth Shut Too.

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Some People Can't See The Color Red. That Doesn't Mean It Isn't There.

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Grieving Is Like Being Ill. You Think The Entire World Revolves Around You And It Doesn't.

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Everything Happens For A Reason, But That Doesn't Mean There's A Point.

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There Are Laws For Everything Except The Harm Families Do.

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Who Knows What Part We Play In Other People's Dreams?

Pay Enough For Anything And It Passes For Taste.

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Too Much Virtue Has A Corrupting Effect.

It's Been My Observation, After Years In The [insurance] Business, That A Certain Percent Of The Population Simply Can't Resist The Urge To Cheat.

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The Hard Thing About Death Is That Nothing Ever Changes. The Hard Thing About Life Is That Nothing Stays The Same.

Nothing Ever Changes

Sometimes I Wonder What The Difference Is Between Being Cautious And Being Dead.

Ideas Are Easy. It's The Execution Of Ideas That Really Separates The Sheep From The Goats.

I Attended The University Of Louisville My Freshman Year, Transferred To What Was Then Western Kentucky State Teachers College For My Sophomore And Junior Years, And Then Graduated From The University Of Louisville In The Summer Of 1961.

If You're Unhappy, Change Something.

That's The Way The System Works. Sometimes You Get The Bear, Sometimes The Bear Gets You.

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The Memory Is Like Orbiting Twin Stars, One Visible, One Dark, The Trajectory Of What's Evident Forever Affected By The Gravity Of What's Concealed.

Emotion Doesn't Travel In A Straight Line. Like Water, Our Feelings Trickle Down Through Cracks And Crevices, Seeking Out The Little Pockets Of Neediness And Neglect, The Hairline Fractures In Our Character Usually Hidden From Public View.

There Is No Sound So Terrible As A Man's Sorrow For His Own Death.

I Spent The First Twenty Years Of My Writing Career Preparing For The Mystery Genre, Which Is My Favorite Literary Form.

People Talk About Dysfunctional Families; I've Never Seen Any Other Kind.

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There's Nothing Quite As Irksome As Someone Else's Mess.

For The Record, I'd Like To Say That I'm A Big Fan Of Forgiveness As Long As I Have A Chance To Get Even First" Kinsey Millhone, V Is For Vengeance

I've Never Written About My Husband, Steve, Or Any Of My Children Because I Know Them All Too Well. I See Them In All Their Complexities Which Makes Them Impossible To Render On The Printed Page.

After My Years In Hollywood, I Got Tired Of Apologizing For Work That Really Wasn't Mine To Begin With.

Give Yourself Time To Get Better.

I Was An English Major In College With Minors In Fine Arts And Humanities.

I Write Because It's All I Know How To Do. Writing Is My Anchor And My Purpose. My Life Is Informed By Writing, Whether The Work Is Going Well Or I'm Stuck In The Hell Of Writer's Block, Which I'm Happy To Report Only Occurs About Once A Day.

I Hate Nature. I Really Do. Nature Is Composed Entirely Of Sticks, Dirt, Fall-down Places, Biting And Stinging Things, And Savageries Too Numerous To List. And I'm Not The Only One Who Feels This Way. Man Has Been Building Cities Since The Year Oughty-ought, Just To Get Away From This Stuff.

The Struggle Is What Teaches You.

Sometimes The Hardest Part Of My Job Is The Incessant Reminder Of The Fact We're All Trying So Assiduously To Ignore: We Are Here Temporarily. Life Is Only Ours On Loan.

Writing Is Self-taught. Consulting Other People Only Teaches You To Depend On Their Reactions, Which May Or May Not Be Legitimate. Quit Looking For Approval ... Learn To Evaluate Your Own Work With A Dispassionate Eye ... The Lessons You Acquire Will Be All The More Valuable Because You've Mastered Your Craft From Within.

If High Heels Were So Wonderful, Men Would Still Be Wearing Them.

Personally, I Don't Endorse The Notion Of Mortality. It's Fine For Other Folk, But I Disapprove Of The Concept For Me And My Loved Ones.

Life Was Reduced To Its Four Basic Elements: Air, Food, Drink, And A Good Friend.

Smile. It Gives Your Face Something To Do.

Dream Big But Think Small.

Ghosts Don't Haunt Us. That's Not How It Works. They're Present Among Us Because We Won't Let Go Of Them." "i Don't Believe In Ghosts," I Said, Faintly. "some People Can't See The Color Red. That Doesn't Mean It Isn't There," She Replied.

You Never Know Which People Will Affect Your Life.

If I'd Been Listening Closely, I'd Have Caught The Sound Of The Gods Having A Great Big Old Tee-hee At My Expense.

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