I had forgotten how thrilling a snow day is until my son started school, and as much as he loves it, he swoons at the idea of a free day arriving unexpectedly, laid out like a gift.

Orchid hunting is a mortal occupation.

I think of myself as something of a connoisseur of procrastination, creative and dogged in my approach to not getting things done.

Living in a rural setting exposes you to so many marvelous things - the natural world and the particular texture of small-town life, and the exhilarating experience of open space.

You have to simply love writing, and you have to remind yourself often that you love it.

Libraries are what is best about us as a society: open, exciting, rich, informative, free, inclusive, engaging.

One of the very best reasons for having children is to be reminded of the incomparable joys of a snow day.

A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.

An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite and complicated and exceptional, somehow managing to be both heroic and plain.

There's a marvelous sense of mastery that comes with writing a sentence that sounds exactly as you want it to.

Even after I'd published three books and had been writing full-time for twenty years, my father continued to urge me to go to law school.

I was unrecognizable even to family. When Kim saw me she yelled, " That's not Amy!" Just before she passed out.

To me, the smarter you are, the more you want to learn - Ernie Accorsi

Your deepest valleys lead you to your highest mountaintops.

There is the satisfaction of being able to look at the image without flinching. There is the pleasure of flinching.

As far as songwriting, my inspirations came from love, life and death, and viewing other people's situations.

I am no longer going to go along with this idea that we're going to keep spending and borrowing and taking over and raising taxes, that I'm going to do everything I can to change things.

Advice is like snow--the softer it falls, the deeper it goes.

Where parents do too much for their children, the children will not do much for themselves.

Building a business where everyone thrives

Give thanks for sorrow that teaches you pity; for pain that teaches you courage.