You learn this great lesson of life: it's not about me. It's just not. The matter of talent-which seemed so important to you when you were young-is not of great importance. We're simply a conduit. We take things out of the air into us and put them in the form of stories. That's pretty much it.

Lake Wobegon, the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve.

I loved feeling special. I hated feeling special.

People do what they are told not to do. It happens time and time again. Here on the frozen tundra, it is known as the Tongue on the Frozen Pump Handle principle.

Don't pour the oil directly into my navel, pour it on my sternum and let it run down into my navel, you ignorant peasant.

I write on a laptop, so it's impossible to count drafts anymore.

Scripture doesn't promise that God will remove temptation, only that you'll be given strength to withstand it.