I want characters to have voices that feel authentic, unique, honest, fresh and original - all at once. Part of that authenticity is evoking genuine emotion across life - the sadness, passion, love, sense of loss, missed opportunities, and confusion even. All of this helps us realize that our choices do impact the lives that we eventually lead.

When you know that someone close to you is going to die, there's a natural tendency to want to spend as much time with them as you can.

Where does a story truly begin? In life, there are seldom clear-cut beginnings, those moments when we can, in looking back, say that everything started. Yet there are moments when fate intersects with our daily lives, setting in motion a sequence of events whose outcome we could never have foreseen.

Above all, a query letter is a sales pitch and it is the single most important page an unpublished writer will ever write. It's the first impression and will either open the door or close it. It's that important, so don't mess it up. Mine took 17 drafts and two weeks to write.

I fell in love with her when we were together, then fell deeper in love with her in the years we were apart.

Over time, quality work will lead to an audience for your work.

I have always been a firm believer in God and the power of prayer, though to be honest, my faith has made for alist of questions I definitely want answered after I'm gone.