The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me. Come in, it said, come in.

Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.

Don’t be in too much of a rush to be published. There is enormous value in listening and reading and writing—and then putting your words away for weeks or months–and then returning to your work to polish it some more.

What exactly did people do when they had all the time in the world and could do whatever they liked?

I started thinking about life insurance and how nice it would be if you could get insurance that your life would be happy, and that everyone you knew could be happy, and they could all do what they really wanted to do, and they could all find the people they wanted to find.

As readers can probably tell from my books, I love the outdoors. I love to hike, kayak, and swim. I also love to read (which is probably not a surprise) and I love the theater and art museums. I especially love all the instruments of art: inks, pens, paintbrushes, watercolors and oils, fine papers and canvases, and although I love to mess around with these tools and objects, I have minimal artistic skills.

It wasn't that I was stupid ... It was just that there didn't seem to be a lot to say that someone wasn't already saying.