If a person has never given writing a try, they assume that a brilliant idea is hard to come by. But really, even if it takes some digging, ideas are out there. Just open your eyes and look at the world. Writing the ideas down, it turns out, is the real trick.

No matter how much we love a book, the experience of reading it isn't complete until we can give it to someone who will love it as much as we do

I love a large cast of characters. That's the way life is: it's flooded with people and we keep them all straight.

If you've had good gin on a hot day in Southern California with the people you love, you forget Nebraska. The two things cannot coexist. The stronger, better of the two wins.

The tricky thing about being a writer, or about being any kind of artist, is that in addition to making art you also have to make a living.

If what we want to do is promote reading and writing and publishing and making sure this is a business that keeps going - because it is a business! It's not just an art - then we have to take responsibility. I get sort of crazy and frothy when I think about this. It really matters.

If I was a waitress, I was too tired at the end of the day when I came home to try to write.