You have to remember that writing itself is so solitary. You start writing because you're lonely.

You know, if you've got nine people that you've got to get a treat for - because you do have sweet food, even if you're poor - you can't go out and buy a Sara Lee cake. You buy the big bag of cookies, those chocolate and vanilla ones with the icing. That has a lot of trans fat in it, but it goes a long way with a lot of people.

San Antonio drives me crazy, but Chicago drives me crazy in a different way.

When your writing is unselfconscious, when it comes from your heart, that's when it's powerful.

Books are medicine and you have to take the right medicine that you need at that moment or that day or that time in your life.

One of the books that has guided me in the last ten years of my life to help me to be that leader is the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh's Being Peace. He's a Vietnamese monk. He was nominated for a Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King.

Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in