I grew up in Florida, and I wanted to go home and I couldn't. I didn't have the money. The book [The Tiger Rising] was a way to go home.

Sometimes strange and wonderful things will pop into my head. And sometimes I will see something in the world that is the beginning of a story. I always have a notebook with me so that I can write down what I see and hear.

Once there was a princess who was very beautiful. She shone bright as the stars on a moonless night. But what difference did it make that she was beautiful? None. No difference." Why did it make no difference?" asked Abilene. Because," said Pellegrina, "She was a princess who loved no one and cared nothing for love, even though there were many who loved her.

All of God's creatures have names, every last one of them. Of that I am sure: of that I have no doubt at all.

I'm at the mercy of whatever character comes into my head.

Mercy Watson was a character that had been in my head for a long time.

Everything, as you well know . . . cannot always be sweetness and light.