My book is traditional. It runs counter to the post-modern spirit.

What some people interpret as brooding melancholy is serenity. I don't feel required to grasp all the time.

The best advice on writing I've ever received is to take it seriously, because to do it well is all-consuming.

I have traveled the entire state and spent a lot of time out of doors. So I have known the landscape of the Columbia Basin for quite a while, and I have had this strong feeling about it for many years.

When I went to college I took a creative writing class and decided in a week to be a writer.

accident ruled every corner of the universe except the chambers of the human heart.

He didn't like very many people any more, or very many things either. He preferred not to be this way, but there it was, he was like that. His cynicism, a veteran's cynicism, was a thing that disturbed him all the time.