I'm fascinated by the people I grew up with and the mistakes I made - and God, I have screwed up. I like writing about where it all went off course.

I've met many, many writers who say they would never write about their family, never write about people they did not totally make up. But that is not the composition of my character.

Local people seemed very angry for a very long time. It was extraordinary backlash. I was called a liar, I was called every(thing) else. It was enough of a backlash that I moved to Atlanta.

I prayed hard and only gradually became aware that this fierce praying was a way of finding prologue and entrance into my own writing. This came as both astonishment and relief. When I thought God had abandoned me, I discovered that He had simply given me a different voice to praise the inexhaustible beauty of the made world.

The people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.

Writing is more about imagination than anything else. I fell in love with words. I fell in love with storytelling.