Mama always taught her children that words were pretty, but anyone can talk. She said, pay attention to that man or woman who acted, who did, who performed. She taught us to trust in thing we could see, not that we heard.

My soul found ease and rest in the companionship of books.

South Carolina is not a state; it is a cult.

Without music, life is a journey through a desert.

Writing has never been that simple for me.

One can learn anything, anything at all, I thought, if provided by a gifted and passionate teacher.

It did not look like the work of God, but it might have represented the handicraft of a God with a joyous sense of humor, a dancing God who loved mischief as much as prayer, and playfulness as much as mischief.