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

Mostly the natural landscapes work as a sounding board for my characters, so they can understand themselves, and it acts as a mirror in which we readers see ourselves. The natural world is the place into which all my characters have to situate themselves in order to be who they really are, and that makes my rural fiction feel different from a lot of urban fiction.

Where I live you're not supposed to shoot a firearm within a quarter mile of a dwelling.

Maybe the hardest lesson is the one I have to learn over and over again, that each story is its own animal, that every story I write is going to come only with difficulty.

I grew up with donkeys, as well as horses, but I'm more interested in donkeys.

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.

I like to go where the life is.