I've never thought there was anything I could hope to get by praying for it.

As a writer, my main objective is to tell the story urgently - as if whispering it into one ear - and to know the characters intimately.

Is it wrong to kill something that wants to kill you?

What does it mean to be Catholic and not a Catholic? I feel adrift, homeless. My Catholic imagination allows me to see the soul as a lit breath, seeking the divine. It persists.

My childhood was marked by the great fear of nuclear holocaust. We practiced our Civil Defense Drills, lining up in hallways, curled to the floor, but we knew we'd die or, worse, survive only to suffer radiation and slow death.

I try not to divide plot and character. I get to know a character by what they want and fear and how those internal forces play out in their lives.

You learn to exploit genre for the more important things - to my mind - like story, character, image, language.