Here we are - despite the delays, the confusion, and the shadows en route - at last, or for the moment, where we always intended to be.

And then there's the personal question so many of Lassie's fans want to ask: Is he allowed on the furniture? Of course he is-but, then, he's the one who paid for it.

Knowing and understanding the people we love most is a process that continues well beyond their deaths... and is never complete.

I love meeting booksellers and readers and hearing how they've read and received my stories. Often I'm surprised by which characters they've loved best, what scenes have stayed with them, what connections they've felt between my characters' lives and theirs.

Now is almost always the better choice. You never know about later.

When most of us talk to our dogs, we tend to forget that they're not people.

When it comes to life, we spin our own yarn, and where we end up is really, in fact, where we always intended to be.