I'm pretty tight - I rewrite, in some cases, 70 to 80 times before I show it to people.

Actually, you’re not famous at all. Maybe you’ll get some traction after you’re dead?

I revise and revise and revise. I'm not even sure "revise" is the right word. I work a story almost to death before it's done.

I think anything we do - eating, walking down the street, online shopping - gives you another perspective on writing stories.

I sometimes wonder if our memories are a myth. We think we remember, but we are remembering the story and not the actual event?

I agree with the Lev Tolstoy quote completely, but I also feel like there's more to it. What is a happy family and an unhappy family? We're probably both of those things at the same time.

A stellar, fully-realized collection of stories... grounded, wonderfully, in the river valleys of western Maine. You come away not only understanding a place but the soul of its people.

I've spent a lot of time in prisons, first doing legal work and later, teaching.

If a novel or a story works, you don't stop thinking about it; it doesn't truly end.

I have a friend who teaches yoga (or is it pilates?), and she said that I don't seem to live in the moment. And I said, "Exactly!" I'd go nuts if I lived in the moment.

I think some writers should wait for something to say.

When it is late, everyone cares!

If you haven't gotten your dream yet, perhaps your'e not running fast enough.

If you don't mind haunting the margins, I think there is more freedom there.

I had the constitution of a missionary.

We know we're coming full circle with God when we stand at a very similar crossroad where we made such a mess of life before, but this time we take a different road.

I write what I write, say what I say, 'cause I feel what I feel, and if I did it different, it would make me a liar! So I'd rather be an honest person than a good liar.

There are no turnarounds at Michigan. This is greatness. Long tradition of it.

Jesus got me through the slums without getting murdered. I just walked with him as though he were really there and not a spirit just floating around.

I'm now learning how to distinguish when I'm acting and when I'm not acting - offstage as well as onstage.

I quit smoking cigarettes and with the $70 a month I am saving not smoking cigarettes I'm smoking $700 worth of cigars.