Anytime a child is born, the old people look in his face and ask him if he's the One.

You learn from music, from watching great athletes at work - how disciplined they are, how they move. You learn these things by watching a shortstop at work, how he concentrates on one thing at a time. You learn from classic music, from the blues and jazz, from bluegrass. From all this, you learn how to sustain a great line without bringing in unnecessary words.

You've got to bend with the wind or you're broken.

Only when the mind is free has the body a chance to be free. Yes, they must believe, they must believe. Because I know what it means to be a slave. I am a slave.

Today I must write a paragraph or a page better than I did yesterday.

I try to write something that would interest anybody and keep them turning the page. You must have a plot and good storyline.

In all my stories and novels, no one ever escapes Louisiana. Maybe that is because my soul never left Louisiana, although my body did go to California.