I think my family's watched me over the years in my career, in my pursuit of my career, and they've seen the challenges and the struggles that come with being an actor, with being a writer and a director, and the challenges of morphing my career in from just being an actor into a writer/director.

I know when an actor is giving it his/her all and when they're just phoning it in.

I never thought I was good enough actually to write.

It's difficult being a child actor. I don't think everything beautiful has to be exploited. Some things can be beautiful and left beautiful.

Nashville feels like a big little town to me. It's got lots of culture and lots of interesting things to do and lots of interesting people. At the same time, it feels very small and tight-knit and very close. Everyone feels like they know each other.

I didn't take the reins of my career until I was about 21, and I've been in charge since then.

My sympathies go out to the young performers today because they are under a microscope in a way I wasn't. Now everybody's got a camera phone and can record at will or take pictures of you. It's just a different world. I don't know how I would have fared back then.