My name became a brand and I'd love to say it was the plan from the start. But the only plan was to keep writing books. And I've stuck to that ever since.

It's as if we spend our entire lives avoiding Jell-O but it is always there at the end, waiting.

In little pockets of conversation, old men were telling stories of ancient floods. Women were talking of about how much rain there'd been in other towns -- Paragould, Lepanto, and Manila.

Still, something about writing made me spend large hours of my free time at my desk.

We cuss them because we're not good enough for them. We hate them because they wouldn't look at us, couldn't be bothered to give us an interview. I guess there's a Trent & Brent in every city, in every field. I didn't make it and I don't belong, so I'll just go through life hating them.

Reading is by far the most successful pursuit of happiness.

One thing that drives me nuts... well, let me ask you, when writers write do they not use quotation marks anymore?