Plotting is difficult for me, and always has been. I do that before I actually start writing, but I always do characters, and the arc of the story, first... You can't do anything without a story arc. Where is it going to begin, where will it end.

I find it both fascinating and disconcerting when I discover yet another person who believes that writing can't be taught. Frankly, I don't understand this point of view

It is the job of the novelist to touch the reader.

I myself have suffered periodically from hearing voices at night when I'm trying to sleep.

The Pacific Northwest, and particularly Whidbey Island, is extremely suited to be a location in a novel.

Oh, yes, I taught 13 and a half years. I taught English, first at a Catholic school and then at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif.

No matter what you do each day...or in life...doing things God's way is a matter of the heart.