All writers are mimics, and I'm not interested in picking up somebody else's style or voice.

Reading a novel in which all characters illustrate patience, hard work, chastity, and delayed gratification could be a pretty dull experience.

I do try not to spend much time reading in the suspense genre.

I don't have dry seasons, because I don't allow them.

I had been writing fiction since I was in eighth grade, because I loved it.

If I don't have a project going, I sit down and begin to write something - a character sketch, a monologue, a description of some sight, or even just a list of ideas.

Yes, in my books I do edit myself to keep from becoming the Village Explainer.

Much of what we do in life has a huge component of luck.

I do want to write about Jane Whitefield again, but only when I have a good enough idea - something I've figured out about her that's news and that's worth a reader's time.

It's important, I think, for a writer of fiction to maintain an awareness of the pace and shape of the book as he's writing it. That is, he should be making an object, not chattering.

Contrary to what many writers imply about the process, nobody forces a writer to sell his work to the film industry.

But at my back I always hear Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near

We have got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage.

The creation of the spiritual was no accident. It was a creation born of necessity, so that the slave might more adequately adjust himself to the conditions of the New World.

Whenever a person dwells chiefly, or even frequently, on the faults of other people's religions, he is in a bad condition.

... in this valley of tears we must expect much sorrow and little consolation.

On the football field I keep my emotions tied up inside. But when I'm with family, I let them out.

Grief is at once a public and a private experience. One's inner, inexpressible disruption cannot be fully realized in one's public persona.

I did, but I'm not real fond of giving interviews.

I'm very picky, and I'm never 100% happy with the work I do; I hate watching myself and hearing my voice.