There is a kind of certainty that seems to characterize Jared Smith's best work, an understanding about place and the flow of spirit that makes you think of Thoreau along with a commitment as fierce as that of Pablo Neruda.

Guilt can make you doubt yourself at the very moment when you need to proceed with certainty.

A journal is a very personal thing. As far as possible, to write this sort of book you need to know and feel your character as a person and then put yourself into that person's mind, place and time. Trying to stay in that person, place and time is a challenge when surrounded by this very different world of the 21st century.

The best teachers have shown me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly - we only think it does.

A story is a burden which must be carried with as much care as we carry a sleeping child

There is a kind of certainty that seems to characterize Jared Smith's best work, an understanding about place and the flow of spirit that makes you think of Thoreau along with a commitment as fierce as that of Pablo Neruda.

As long as we can remember them, our families will always be with us.