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.

A writer is like a bag lady going through life with a sack and a pointed stick collecting stuff.

I always try to make the setting fit the story I have in mind.

Although I wasnt able to get a visa for Vietnam, I was able to talk with swift boat veterans to get a feel for the time and place, and I visited a tropical prison in the Philippines to get a sense of what a Vietnamese prison might have been like.

I try to make my books reflect humanity as I see it.

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

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