Essentially and most simply put, plot is what the characters do to deal with the situation they are in. It is a logical sequence of events that grow from an initial incident that alters the status quo of the characters.

Writing is no dying art form in America because most published writers here accept the wisdom and the necessity of encouraging the talent that follows in their footsteps.

I find it both fascinating and disconcerting when I discover yet another person who believes that writing can't be taught. Frankly, I don't understand this point of view.

Essentially and most simply put, plot is what the characters do to deal with the situation they are in. It is a logical sequence of events that grow from an initial incident that alters the status quo of the characters.

It is the job of the novelist to touch the reader.

Lots of people want to have written; they don't want to write. In other words, they want to see their name on the front cover of a book and their grinning picture on the back. But this is what comes at the end of a job, not at the beginning.

I attempt to write a good novel. Whether it is literature or not is something that will be decided by the ages, not by me and not by a pack of critics around the globe.

I don't think anyone could write about another culture and get it 100 percent accurate.

Art can't be taught; passion can't be taught; discipline can't be taught; but craft can be taught. And writing is both an art and a craft.

Creating the characters is the most creative part of the novel except for the language itself. There I am, sitting in front of my computer in right-brain mode, typing the things that come to mind - which become the seeds of plot. It's scary, though, because I always wonder: Is it going to be there this time?

Having a facility for language is an important part of being an author.

I have to know the killer, the victim and the motive when I begin. Then I start to create the characters and see how the novel takes shape based on what these people are like.

I knew from the age of seven that I was meant to be a writer.

I myself have suffered periodically from hearing voices at night when I'm trying to sleep.

I really liked the idea of creating a journal myself. It's like the way I clear my throat. I write a page every day, maybe 500 words. It could be about something I'm specifically worried about in the new novel; it could be a question I want answered; it could be something that's going on in my personal life. I just use it as an exercise.

I taught English, first at a Catholic school and then at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif.

I try to create a challenge for myself in each book. And sometimes, believe me, I just kick myself afterwards, and say, 'Why on earth did you ever attempt this, you idiot!' But I'm always better for the experience.

I wish that I had known back then that a mastery of process would lead to a product. Then I probably wouldn't have found it so frightening to write.

I write the kinds of novels I like to read, where the setting is rendered with love and care.

I'm interested in the dark side of man. I'm interested in taboos, and murder is the greatest taboo. Characters are fascinating in their extremity, not in their happiness.

Oh, yes, I taught 13 and a half years. I taught English, first at a Catholic school and then at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif.

Plotting is difficult for me, and always has been. I do that before I actually start writing, but I always do characters, and the arc of the story, first... You can't do anything without a story arc. Where is it going to begin, where will it end.

The English tradition offers the great tapestry novel, where you have the emotional aspect of a detective's personal life, the circumstances of the crime and, most important, the atmosphere of the English countryside that functions as another character.

The Pacific Northwest, and particularly Whidbey Island, is extremely suited to be a location in a novel.

What we are is what we were always meant to be, and that's writers.

When I start a book, I write a minimum of five pages every day, except weekends. If I'm going on a ski trip, I take my computer with me, get up at six, do my five pages, and then go skiing.

While I've written in the POV (point of view) of adolescent characters before... I never have had to create novels in which those characters not only drive the plot, but also are instrumental in resolving whatever issue the plot deals with.

Our actions, habits, character, and future are most definitely affected by our thoughts.

Your little choices become habits that affect the bigger decisions you make in life.

A real friend is one who helps us to think our best thoughts, do our noblest deeds, and be our finest selves.

Work on what is real rather than worry about what is unreal.

Exchange the bad habit of worrying with the excellent habit of trusting God.

A daughter will follow in her moms footsteps so make sure to set a good example.

Resolve never to criticize or downgrade yourself but instead rejoice that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Let every hindrance to joy become the soil out of which joy blossoms.

Never underestimate the significance of the little things done out of a large heart of love.

Model the qualities that you want your children to show to each other.

Nurture the qualities in yourself that you desire in your friends.

An ordinary woman who makes herself available to an extraordinary God can do amazing things for God.

The past can't be changed, can it? It can just be forgiven.

Replace worry with prayer. Make the decision to pray whenever you catch yourself worrying.

There is no substitute for the strength that blesses a couple when they work together.

Obedience is a foundational stepping-stone on the path of God’s will.

Trials are not meant to defeat you. They are meant to be defeated.

Even if you walk exactly the same route each time - as with a sonnet - the events along the route cannot be imagined to be the same from day to day, as the poet's health, sight, his anticipations, moods, fears, thoughts cannot be the same.

The French are the wittiest, the most charming, and up to the present, at all events, the least musical race on Earth.

A lot of people have gotten into comedy because of certain influences in their lives or events that were painful, and I really have wracked my brain to figure it out. I pretty much have had a normal childhood. Maybe it was too normal.

I've done a lot of Super Bowls and appeared in a lot of big, big events and places and the Masters and what have you, but there was nothing as intimidating as speaking with Billy Graham.

Big shows are more like events and small shows are more like traditional gigs.