Some people need a huge amount of attention, and they are worthy of that attention, and they're still exhausting.

Part of it is living in Tennessee. I'm so out of the loop. And as a person, I'm out of the loop. I'm oblivious by nature.

He realized now he was only just beginning to see the full extent to which it was his destiny to follow, to walk blindly into fates he could never understand. In fate there was reward, in turning over one's heart to God there was a magnificence that lay beyond description. At the moment one is sure that all is lost, look at what is gained!

I think people become consumed with selling a book when they need to be consumed with writing it.

Fiction is always really a labor.

I wanted to eat her pain, take it into me and make it my own.

I'm very sentimental about lobsters. The last lobster I ate was the only lobster I cooked.