To be able to make up stories has been a great gift to me from my ancestors and from the storytellers who were so numerous at Laguna Pueblo when I was growing up. I learned to read as soon as I could because I wanted stories without having to depend on adults to tell or read stories to me.

I don't make outlines or plans because whenever I do, they turn out to be useless. It is as if I am compelled to violate the scope of any outline or plan; it is as if the writing does not want me to know what is about to happen.

But sometimes what we call 'memory' and what we call 'imagination' are not so easily distinguished.

Moonflowers blossom in the sand hills before dawn, just as I followed him.

Things which don't shift and grow are dead things.

I write in order to find out what I truly know and how I really feel about certain things. Writing requires me to go much deeper into my thoughts and memories than conversation does. Writing provides the solitude necessary to reflect on being in this world.

the snow ... came in thick tufts like new wool - washed before the weaver spins it.