I'm a writer of faith. I was raised Catholic, and I have a deeply Catholic imagination.

I prefer true over happy now.

I believe that one of the most damning things about our culture is the adage to never talk religion and politics. Because we don't model this discourse at the dinner table and at Thanksgiving, we don't know how to do it well and we're not teaching our children about the world and about how to discuss it.

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.

Sometimes the only way to fix a mistake- is to make it twice.

A good novel doesn't just transcend the boundaries of its target market - it knows nothing about target markets.

She glances back before stepping into the alley, and she catches her grandfather looking at her the way he does sometimes--as if she's already gone, as if he's practicing sorrow.