Never be so focused on what you're looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.

The hardest piece of nonfiction I ever wrote isn't anywhere close to the easiest piece of fiction I never wrote.

Writing is a job, a talent, but it's also the place to go in your head. It is the imaginary friend you drink your tea with in the afternoon.

For a man to know what he has when he had it, that is what makes him a fortunate man.

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

Well, I always say that the two things I was most disastrous at in my life, being a teenager and being a wife, were the two things I really wound up cashing in on when I was writing fluffy magazine pieces.

Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.