I am unusually Halloween-attentive, because, as it happens, I was born on Halloween, so for me it has always been an occasion of great moment.

Orchid hunting is a mortal occupation.

I think of myself as something of a connoisseur of procrastination, creative and dogged in my approach to not getting things done.

Living in a rural setting exposes you to so many marvelous things - the natural world and the particular texture of small-town life, and the exhilarating experience of open space.

You have to simply love writing, and you have to remind yourself often that you love it.

Libraries are what is best about us as a society: open, exciting, rich, informative, free, inclusive, engaging.

One of the very best reasons for having children is to be reminded of the incomparable joys of a snow day.

A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.

An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite and complicated and exceptional, somehow managing to be both heroic and plain.

There's a marvelous sense of mastery that comes with writing a sentence that sounds exactly as you want it to.

Even after I'd published three books and had been writing full-time for twenty years, my father continued to urge me to go to law school.

The only shores you will never reach in life are those you have allowed yourself to believe, were too far.

Irish and English are so widely separated in their mode of expression that nothing like a literal rendering from one language to the other is possible.

No one knows more about the way you think than you do.

The skill of writing needs much patience, practicing, and time. There is no good writing from a quick effort, or a confused writer.

Ish #21 "Stop saying the only meat you eat is chicken. It's still meat!

You can't reconcile being pro-life on abortion and pro-death on the death penalty.

Anyone who's lived with companion cats or dogs knows that they are unique individuals with their own personalities. I think animals' secret to getting along is that they are not burdened by an ego.

Our jobs as artists is to make sure our art tells a real story and let people see themselves in these characters. It's about having a conversation about being better people.

The body believes in images.

Funny how the new things are the old things.