There is nothing wrong with a writer who has a distinct style in book after book, but I am not interested in repeating myself.

A wife who loses a husband is called a widow. A husband who loses a wife is called a widower. A child who loses his parents is called an orphan. There is no word for a parent who loses a child. That's how awful the loss is.

There is no particular source my stories come from. The stories always seem to be there waiting for me, though sometimes shrouded in mist and fog.

As a writer I am proud that if you took my last four books, and they didn't have my name on them, I don't think readers would know they were by the same author.

It was difficult to enjoy the trees and flowers when I was so aware of all that I had not yet done - pruning, weeding, transplanting, mulching, composting, tagging. When I was doing the work myself, I was happy, free.

There is nothing wrong with a writer who has a distinct style in book after book, but I am not interested in repeating myself.

Writing a novel, I am making is an object that has a life and identity of its own, apart from me.