Plot comes first. The plot is the archictecture of your novel. You wouldn't build a house without a plan. If I wrote without a plot, it would just be a pile of bricks. Characters are your servants. They must serve your plot.

I know I have to write about the things that keep me awake at night.

Honk if you love Jesus, text while driving if you want to meet up.

When you're given a brilliant child you polish her and let her shine. Pigs in Heaven

A mother's body remembers her babies-the folds of soft flesh, the softly furred scalp against her nose. Each child has it's own entreaties to body and soul.

Sometimes I prayed for Baby Jesus to make me good, but Baby Jesus didn't.

Every betrayal contains a perfect moment, a coin stamped heads or tails with salvation on the other side.