Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious.

I try to write the books I would love to come upon that are honest, concerned with real lives, human hearts, spiritual transformation, families, secrets, wonder, craziness - and that can make me laugh.

You just have to keep getting out of your own way so that whatever it is that wants to be written can use you to write it.

Some people wanted to get rich or famous, but my friends and I wanted to get real. We wanted to get deep. (Also, I suppose, we wanted to get laid.)

Where do we even start on the daily walk of restoration and awakening? We start where we are.

I was raised by my parents to believe that you had a moral obligation to try and save the world. You sent money to the Red Cross, you registered people to vote, you marched in rallies, stood in vigils, picked up litter.

I naturally prefer the company of people who hold grudges, as long as they are not held against me.