Christmas shows us the ties that bind us together, threads of love and caring, woven in the simplest and strongest way within the family.

I'm one of the narrative-push people. I don't outline, I don't plan ahead. So I'm my first reader, telling myself the story as I'm going along. Since I haven't designed it ahead of time, each day I have to be sure that the footing is solid before I make the next step. I think you could be more intricate if you work it out ahead of time.

Hoke Moseley is a magnificently battered hero. Willeford brings him to us lean and hard and brand-new.

Who's a boy gonna talk to if not his mother?

I have no known marketable skills.

If your subject is crime, then you know at least that you're going to have a real story. If your subject is the maturing of a college boy, you may never stumble across a story while you're telling that. But if your story is a college boy dead in his dorm room, you know there's a story in there, someplace.

It's so difficult, particularly with an antisocial character. It's much easier if he's already a blank page, but once you've written on him, it's hard to keep him that stripped down.