It's very difficult to put in the work unless you believe that what you're doing is significant in some way.

Accept criticism. If you do not offer your work for criticism and accept that criticism, meaning give it serious thought and attention, then you will never improve.

What writers do - everything comes from inside, from experiences of the world that we have digested. And then we turn it into silk, or stories.

If you’re a writer, your first duty, a duty you owe to yourself and your readers, and to your writing itself, is to become wonderful. To become the best writer you can possibly be.

I think part of my purpose in this life is to talk about magic, and to make it.

The only thing worth thinking about, when I write a story, is whether I like it, whether I want to write it, whether it excites me.

The appeal of writing a romance was that I'd never written one before the The Thorn and The Blossom.

I loved writing something I'd never written before, and I wanted to write not just about "true love" but also a human relationship.

I actually pushed the boundaries on how long a book like this [The Thorn and the Blossom] can be. The original plan called for two 7,500 word stories, and I turned in two 10,000 word stories.

I've heard some readers saying they wished the story was longer, and I completely understand that desire - we all like to sink into a nice, long novel.

It's appropriate to have magic in a love story, because magic is a sort of metaphor for what love feels like? When we fall in love, the world feels magical to us. It becomes an enchanted place.

The strength of a patent doesn’t come from its claims, it comes from the invention

We are as much informed of a writer's genius by what he selects as by what he originates.

He who does not become familiar with nature through love will never know her.

I don't think politics has anything to do with left, right, or center. It has to do with trying to do right by people.

Teach my children to love! They'll learn to hate on their own

Somebody who's learning how to ice skate for the first time would need skates, a helmet for head protection and elbow pads, because you do fall quite a bit.

Repentance is the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of Him; and it consists in the mortification of the flesh and the renewing of the Spirit.

The Imperfect Pastor by Zack Eswine might be the most helpful and profound book I've read in years. If you're in pastoral ministry grab a copy.

Scandals never stop an administration unless the media wants them to stop an administration, which means that no scandal is ever gonna stop Obama.

Invest in as much of yourself as you can, you are your own biggest asset by far.