I am really an introvert, and I need that time alone for a variety of reasons.

A friend of mine said Winn-Dixie is the way that people want the world to be and Tiger Rising is the way that it is.

There ain't no way you can hold onto something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.

No matter how hard you try to be present at home, you're always doing the things that you have to do.

One, we [with Alison McGhee] laugh a lot - that was great. Two, I enjoy writing, but it's a lonely undertaking. To have someone in the room with me is an absolute delight and makes it seem less impossible. It became a kind of comforting, joyful process.

If memory serves me correctly, and it doesn't always, Kate [DiCamillo] and I met in the fall of 2001 at the former Figlio's restaurant in Minneapolis. We were laughing within a minute of meeting - always a good sign.

When I do it [writing] by myself, there's a lot more terror and uncertainty.