The truth is I tried to write for years and I wasn't very good.

I loved writing for the school newspaper. I liked to report and interview people, but I really liked to write columns, funny columns.

I like living near my family, and near the people I understand the best. The landscape of Michigan speaks to me, and the humility and humor of the people here makes sense. It just feels right to live here, in a place where I don't dare put on airs.

Eighty percent of all novels are bought by women, or so I've heard.

I was never a big reader as a kid. My imagination wasn't captured by books very often. It was captured more often by boys and partying and riding horses.

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

You can't beat a good sonnet, and you can write a sonnet without being married to the damned thing.