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

I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have by reading novels.

Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?

I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to say something about home.

The mark of fear is not easily removed.

I write to try to find out who I am. One of my main themes is manliness. I think I'm trying to figure out what manliness really is.

What I miss today more than anything else - I don't go to church as much anymore - but that old-time religion, that old singing, that old praying which I love so much. That is the great strength of my being, of my writing.