Writing across genres has made me more prolific. When one is fighting me or simply not cutting it, I turn to another.

If you look at the world one way, it takes from you - it's a thief of time, energy, creative mojo. But if you look at the world another way, it gives you an endless supply of motivation.

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

I believe we're brutes, but then, miraculously, there are those among us who stand up against that brutishness and remind us of the goodness we're capable of.

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

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

You want the greatest trick for writing a novel? Here it is: imagine urgently whispering your story into one person's ear - and only one. This one visualization will clarify every word choice you make.