I like going to schools and telling classes that when I was a child, I failed every "will this kid become a writer" test.

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

When I get to a point in my book writing when I don't know what I'm going to do next, I'll come back look at underlined passages and see if the images I wrote still have a certain amount of resonance for me.

I didn't know anything about writing a screenplay, but somehow I ended up rewriting a screenplay.

I need to write, and I can't write when I'm on the road.

If you have no intention of loving or being loved, the whole journey is pointless.

That you can go anywhere in America and get a book from a library is just the most amazing thing in the world. It's not a duty; it's a privilege and it's a joy. That joy is doubled and tripled and quadrupled if you read with other people.