Once I have the idea for a story. I start collecting all kinds of helpful information and storing it in three-ring notebooks. For example, I may see a picture of a man in a magazine and say, 'That's exactly what the father in my book looks like!'...I save everything that will help--maps, articles, hand-jotted notes, bits of dialogue from conversations that I overhear.

Writing, for me, is the best occupation I can think of, and there is nothing in the world I would rather do.

It's all right to have secrets, ... as long as you don't have any secrets from yourself.

You don't have to be part of a couple to be happy, you know.

There were so many of these moments that could never be captured accurately, even in the camcorder, only in the heart.

Since no one really knows what or who God is, or whether God is at all, why can't God be hope?

Once I have the idea for a story. I start collecting all kinds of helpful information and storing it in three-ring notebooks. For example, I may see a picture of a man in a magazine and say, 'That's exactly what the father in my book looks like!'...I save everything that will help--maps, articles, hand-jotted notes, bits of dialogue from conversations that I overhear.