I can never tell ahead of time which book will give me trouble - some balk every step of the way, others seem to write themselves - but certainly the mechanics of writing, finding the time and the psychic space, are easier now that my children are grown.

View your burden as a gift. It's the theme that has been given you to work with. Accept that and lean into it.

One sad thing about this world is that the acts that take the most out of you are usually the ones that people will never know about. (from 'Celestial Navigation')

My decision to start a new one is just that, a decision, since I never get inspirations.

I wonder how many times we dream that kind of dream-something strange and illogical-and fail to realize God is trying to tell us something.

For my own family, I would always choose the makeshift, surrogate family formed by various characters unrelated by blood.

I think I was born with the impression that what happened in books was much more reasonable, and interesting, and real, in some ways, than what happened in life.