Quotes

I don't leave the house without a book, and I never watch television without one, either.

Writing is writing. It's an abiding, wonderful talent, craft, gift that stays with you your whole life. And you can go in different forms, and you can try them. Look at me: I'm writing novels because I found something I love because I tried it.

I come from hardworking, determined people on both sides of my family... the kind who live with a hard reality from which much strength comes.

I fell in love with reading when I was allowed to choose whatever books I wanted to check out of the library. I was around nine years old when I began choosing my own books in earnest.

But the most precious research to me came from the paperwork filed on behalf of my grandparents and great-grandfather. The ship's manifest showed that they could read and write. I am still emotional when I look at those boxes checked yes.

I have held the following jobs: office temp, ticket seller in movie theatre, cook in restaurant, nanny, and phone installer at the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

I love rhinestones, faux jewelry.

I am in total silence when I write - I don't even like the sound of the dryer going - I like the quiet.

Everything has to be clean and orderly when I sit down to write. I have candles going, and small objects that remind me of what I am working on, or bring me into the world of the character.

And so, when I was a young writer I always worked hard on imagery, and I knew that the roots of imagery were the senses - and that if my readers could feel, taste and see what I was talking about, I would be able to tell them a story.

And when you clear away the cobwebs of the description of every job in the world, at the bottom of that job is service. It's service. And I took that ethic and applied it to my writing craft.

I care what my reader thinks. There is no fancy recommendation you can give me that would matter to me as much as Mary Jane from Youngstown writing me a letter. There is not one. Don't need it, don't want it, don't require it, does not fill up my soul. It's about her, not about the rest of it.

I loved to read, still do, and it seemed that the writing was a result of the love of books and reading and libraries.

I'm very organized - and the best thing - when you love your work, you don't mind putting in 15 hour days. It's joyful.

We have a million ways to get ahold of people, and we're the loneliest we've ever been.

I never knew anybody who didn't want to have a great love in their lives and to make a family.

Work and love - this is interesting to me.

I'm a dramatist, so I really always wrote and directed at the same time because when I wrote something, I always put it on its feet. So I'm in love with actors; I always loved actors.

I used to walk to Altman's on Saturdays for lunch at the Charleston Garden, which had a coconut cake that is still my favorite food in the world.

I always think the most important thing for a writer is a deadline, and it's the same with a house. They say you shouldn't make an emotional decision with a house, but I think it is the only decision you can make.

Everything I've done in my life has been dictated by the fact that I like to be home at night and in bed.

I get very attached to places.

I have to work hard. I'm not naturally great at anything. I have to work really, really hard.

When I was young, I was stupid, and I thought maybe I would write the fancy stuff.

Mostly I sit alone in a room and cry and do my job - so when they let me out of my cave to go on tour, I really listen to my readers.