I write when I have something to say and not when I don't. My time is better spent if I know I have nothing to say. I don't consider it writer's block; I just don't have anything to say.

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.

The shortest distance between two people is a smile.

To spend one's life being angry, and in the process doing nothing to change it, is to me ridiculous. I could be mad all day long, but if I'm not doing a damn thing, what difference does it make?

Beauty more than bitterness Makes the heart break.

I think a dad has to make his daughter feel that he's genuinely interested in what she's going through.

I guess I'm attracted to more archaic words because they can be imbued with more meaning, because their definition is elusive.

I have found, whether you have a tiny business or a big business, if you don't jump on something right away, it's like a bird flying by-it flies off.

The discipline of singing early music has a special sound - (it's) very clear.

I'd love to work across all three fields - theatre, film and TV.

You're just jealous." "Hardly. Been there, done you. Adequate, but unremarkable.

I think Americans have become a - much more a nation of consumers than citizens.