I love the Internet, and I love wasting time on the Internet - even though it sometimes ends up being not being a waste of time.

The feat of surviving is directly related to the capacity of the survivor.

I was haunted by a bear attack that happened in Algonquin Park in 1991. The problem was that I dont believe in ghosts, so that ruled out an exorcism. My other choice was to start writing.

I would get a lot of writing done if I lived in isolation in a cave under a swamp.

The body needs food, warmth and water, but your heart needs more.

A young woman hiking alone in the mountains sounds dangerous. In the pre-cell phone era maybe it was, but Ill stop short of calling it foolish.

How do you solve a mystery? How do you write a book? The techniques for starting both are surprisingly similar. Find an intriguing question and, pen and dagger tucked under cloak, search for clues.

Parents spend a lot of time talking over kids. My son went through a vocabulary burst as I was writing The Bear. I thought, What if I just stopped and listened?

I like situations that push a character to the edge.

And so back to Cassie: who was she? Part of the deception

hate people like that, people you have to protect while they keep hurting you.

Over intellect will make you a genius, over emotions will make you a lunatic.

I do a little bit of yoga-style meditation. Relaxing and breathing even just one minute a day makes a big difference.

Our intellect, our awareness, and our consciousness is the most powerful form of life on this planet.

There's always the tendency to transform the Church into an ethical agency, and of measuring the Church by the yardstick of social and cultural utility.

A ratio of failures is built into the process of writing. The wastebasket has evolved for a reason.

Do not think little of any good deed, even if it is just greeting your brother with a smile.

You can't be 20 on Sugar Mountain.

The approach is that the best way to use unwanted circumstances on the path of enlightenment is not to resist but to lean into them.