I started realising that the themes running through all of my novels were really haunting and obsessing me about my own life.

What's more important that spiritual life? It seems to me it's the bedrock of everything essential about being human.

At some point each day (well, most days) I unroll my mat and practice for an hour. I sit in meditation for a while. This can be five minutes or twenty minutes, but the daily practice - simply showing up for it - is centering.

I could spend two years cross-legged on my floor and feel like I was working.

Logic and faith don't occupy the same side.

When I near the end of a book, it feels as if the entire universe meets me more than halfway and supports me. The whole world seems to shimmer when I find the words. My mind quiets.

I'm most connected to myself when I'm alone in a room, moving my hand across a page. That's when I feel most like me.