My pets are very supportive, as they curl up in their beds underneath my desk.

I love Topsail Island, which my grandparents helped settle in 1950, despite the racial tensions. I wanted to immortalize my deep connection to this special island forever.

The classical music is soothing and stimulating, good for thinking.

When I get stuck, I take a long walk outside or go to a movie. I get out of my own way so I can hear the quiet voices that hold all of the answers that connect the dots.

In my spare time, I paint, garden, hike and enjoy massages for my weary writer's back.

If it takes you more time to clean your makeup than to watch a movie… you already have a problem.

In the baby’s roomThe city lights areMilkyIn the curtains… Breath Gentle as rain, Sleep Quiet as snowflakes

Openness explains the ability to innovate and come up with big ideas because you're open to them, and fluid intelligence explains the ability to go and execute.

Even when a person has all of life's comforts - good food, good shelter, a companion - he or she can still become unhappy when encountering a tragic situation.

The real two-party system in America is the Meanies and the Weenies. The Meanies want to take away your benefits, and the Weenies want to compromise with them.

If you wish to help someone, give secretly and avoid arrogance.

I do not go in search of poetry. I wait for poetry to visit me.

O God... make me a child again, even before I die; give me back the simple faith, the clear vision of the child that holds its father's hand.

If you don't dream big, there's no use of dreaming. If you don't have faith, there's nothing worth believing.

I had all my own teeth and I wanted to keep it that way.