In middle school I wrote a paper on Hemingway and none of the sentences had more than five words..

It took me ten years to write The Night Journal, so that was a big ordeal..

As for whether genre considerations influence what I write, they don't at all, but I might sell more books if they did. The Night Journal is a hodge-….

I love Austin. It's great here. I don't mind the heat..

The author with the greatest influence on me is my friend Stephen Harrigan, who critiques everything I write before I even bother to show it to my ag….

I think when you're a writer most of what you read influences you. The rhythms get into your head..

I changed my hopes to being a singer [when I was a child] and sat around with my hair in my face droning Mac Davis songs. Writing was sort of a last ….

I got hooked on TV westerns back in the early sixties when I was about five, mostly because my brother was addicted to them and wouldn't let me watch….

When I started escaping to a neighbor's house to watch what I darn well pleased, it turned out to be The Big Valley. Every afternoon my friend and I ….

Promised Lands was a better book in my opinion, and it's still my mother's favorite of the three I've done, but I doubt anyone who isn't a blood rela….

I love the writers in Austin. We stick together. We all like each other and go to each other's book signings in case no one else shows up..

It seems like the Western genre has crept out of its casings during the last few years, and expanded to include books and movies we wouldn't original….

When Larry Wright won the Pulitzer for The Looming Tower we all strutted around for weeks, until some sourpuss among us noted that it was actually La….

[My brother] was older, and since the law of the west was fairly entrenched in our household, whoever was bigger got control of the television. I sat….

As for anticipation, you never know what to expect of a book. They're like kids: you bring them into the world, fret about them, and then at some poi….

I knew from previous books not to count on anything in terms of sales. My first novel - -The Raven's Bride, about Sam Houston's disastrous first marr….

Angle of Repose is one of my favorite books. I fell in love with it in college. When I submitted The Night Journal to my agent she got very excited b….

The Night Journal received two awards that I'm terribly proud of - -the Spur from Western Writers of America, and the Willa Literary Award from Women….

I'm halfway through a novel set in two time frames - Austin in the 1960's and Alpine (Texas) in present day. It started out to be a small, lightheart….

When I was six I wanted to be a ballerina. By the time I was eight I was fairly sure this plan wasn't panning out. I began aspiring to be an "Aquamai….

I grew up thirty miles down the highway in San Marcos, and I've still got family there, so I guess I'm pretty well rooted..