I think that people do things for a reason - that we have mental illness, that we have genetic wiring that can get triggered by certain environmental factors.

Everybody had something horrible happen to them at one time or another in their life.

Like every Southern writer, I thought that I needed to write the next Gone With the Wind.

As a Southerner, I love obstacles for my characters.

I don't understand people who say they're bored. Look out your window.

I never felt isolated; I just liked being alone. I think that some people are good at being alone, and some people arent, and as a child, I really liked it.

A good editor is one of the sharpest tools a writer can have in her toolbox.