I'm pro-life, in the sense that chaos seems like life to me and order seems like death.

Some people tell me they would be afraid of my characters, but I tell those people [that] they meet these characters all the time. They just don't care about them when they meet them, at the gas station, the car wash, the post office even.

Nobody tells young writers it's okay if you're not very good, you'll get better. So I just thought I'm not very good, so I should try to do every other thing besides writing. That's how I ended up being a hitchhiker, a world traveler, and a mathematician.

I love investigating the natural world, and I find a lot of truths there, truths about survival and beauty - nature continually surprises me (amazing how clever a woodchuck is, amazing how plants roots can break up concrete, amazing how delicious the thimbleberry is!).

I enjoy shooting. Around where I live, it's something you do for entertainment once in a while, you go out and shoot targets.

I'm of the people in the bar and the people in my stories. They are my tribe.

Mothers aren't allowed to have favorite children!