The first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season.

Hearts can break. Yes, hearts can break. Sometimes I think it would be better if we died when they did, but we don't.

Time was a face on the water, and like the great river before them, it did nothing but flow.

Maybe that's why God made us kids first and built us close to the ground, because He knows you got to fall down a lot and bleed a lot before you learn that one simple lesson. You pay for what you get, you own what you pay for... and sooner or later whatever you own comes back home to you.

When the time is gone, you can never get it back.

Listening to it was like having a mud-slimed piece of silk drawn lightly back and forth across her face.

Part of my function as a writer is to dream awake. And that usually happens. If I sit down to write in the morning, in the beginning of that writing session and the ending of that session, I'm aware that I'm writing. I'm aware of my surroundings. It's like shallow sleep on both ends, when you go to bed and when you wake up. But in the middle, the world is gone and I'm able to see better.