The first draft is just a skeleton-just bare bones. It's like the very first rehearsal of a play, where the director moves the actors around mechanically to get a feel of the action.

I also know that you can lie not only by what you say but what you don't say.

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

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

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

I can never understand why people who have not seen me for a while ask if I am still writing. They might as well ask me if I am still breathing.

…and I’m thinking how nothing is as simple as you guess-not right or wrong, not Judd Travers, not even me or this dog I got here. But the good part is I saved Shiloh and opened my eyes some. Now that ain’t bad for eleven.