At Ucross I learned that I am capable of focusing deeply for long periods of time. I love to write. I don't think I would have said that before this trip.

All crises, once averted, become jokes.

The issue is that my book, and so many others, are not available for pre-order from Amazon. I hadn't realized how much that mattered for new authors. And how much Amazon is hurting us.

I think that sharpens the intention of a scene and clarifies a story's arc. Of course, I don't seek the questions until after I've written a scene - or maybe after I've daydreamed it.

I tossed off a mention of the pirates early on. And they became integral to the backstory. Sometimes now I imagine them in the woods. They scare me. All men. Dirty and wearing red.

I suppose that it's my impulse to mine, as a writer, these scary parts of ourselves and the world.

I am glad it's [California novel] resonated with people because, for me, most apocalyptic novels aren't scary, because they feel so very far off.

Men were stupid to forget what good sleuths women could be.

I'm married. And pregnant.

I have a darker imagination than most people.

Power-lust is a weed that grows only in the vacant lots of an abandoned mind.

Success is the prosperity of the soul

What you are seeking is yourself.

Appeals to the Young and the Young at Heart.

Artists recognize other artists as soon as the pencil begins to move.

Real love is when you are completely committed to someone even when they are being completely unlovable.

I write in order to express what the photo itself cannot say. A photograph of my father doesn't tell me what I thought of him, which for me is much more important than what the man looked like.

The healing of ourselves as healers has to take place first

Infinite perfection is in every man, though unmanifested.

The better the writing, the easier it gets.