Maybe it's wishful thinking, this snaggly faith of mine, or maybe it's Miles Davis saying, Don't play what's there, play what's not there.

Mothers are supposed to listen and, afterward, to respond with some wisdom and perspective, but these things were not my mother's strong suit.

I've written six novels and four pieces of nonfiction, so I don't really have a genre these days.

If you don't die of thirst, there are blessings in the desert. You can be pulled into limitlessness, which we all yearn for, or you can do the beauty of minutiae, the scrimshaw of tiny and precise. The sky is your ocean, and the crystal silence will uplift you like great gospel music, or Neil Young.

Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist's true friend.

Forgiveness means it finally becomes unimportant that you hit back.

...most of the time, all you have is the moment, and the imperfect love of the people around you.