I used to do everything to keep a wall up around myself and keep my life quiet so that I could write.

She sang as if she was saving the life of every person in the room.

That's important to me, to recommend books.

Only a few of us are going to be willing to break our own hearts by trading in the living beauty of imagination for the stark disappointment of words.

I can write for any magazine now, in any voice. I can do it in two hours, I could do it in my sleep, it's like writing a grocery list.

Reading fiction not only develops our imagination and creativity, it gives us the skills to be alone. It gives us the ability to feel empathy for people we've never met, living lives we couldn't possibly experience for ourselves, because the book puts us inside the character's skin.

The thing you can count on in life is that Tennessee will always be scorching hot in August.