If novels and stories are bulletins from the progressive states of ignorance a writer passes through over the years, observations and opinions about horses are all the more so, since horses are more mysterious than life and harder to understand.

In every society, the artists will be the ones who set themselves up as contrary to whatever the society expects.

Even if my marriage is falling apart and my children are unhappy, there is still a part of me that says, 'God, this is fascinating!'

Before I write a novel, images float around in my head that work like icons - they are meaningless in themselves, but serve as reminders.

Novelists never have to footnote.

Combined families often get bad reviews, but the family my children got when they traded away 'the suffocating four-person' nuclear one is one that has benefited all of them.

Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.