I am 82 years old. I imagine that I will keep on writing as long as anyone wants to keep reading.

The highest praise a writer can give another is to say he wishes he had written his book. I wish I had written Forty Words for Sorrow. Giles Blunt has a tremendous talent. If you miss Forty Words for Sorrow, you'll miss one of best novels of 2001.

I always have one or two, sometimes more, Navajo or other tribes' cultural elements in mind when I start a plot. In Thief of Time, I wanted to make readers aware of Navajo attitude toward the dead, respect for burial sites.

The first Chapter Law is, "Don't spend much time on it. You're going to have to rewrite it."

IF you are not for yourself, who will be for you? If you are only for yourself, what are you? If not now, when?

How can you stop writing?

You write for two people, yourself and your audience, who are usually better educated and at least as smart.