You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.

No wonder, he thought, that the panhandle people were a godly lot, for they lived in sudden, violent atmospheres. Weather kept them humble.

It is my feeling that a story is not finished until it is read, and that the reader finishes it through his or her life experience, prejudices, worldview and thoughts.

I would rather be dead than not read

What we fear we often rage against.

I find it satisfying and intellectually stimulating to work with the intensity, brevity, balance and word play of the short story.

And I think that's important, to know how the water's gone over the dam before you start to describe it. It helps to have been over the dam yourself.