I wrote a paper [in school] on [William] Faulkner and no one could tell what the sentences meant..

The defining aspects of westerns are still pretty much in place - namely landscape and conflict. In other books the conflict can be internal, but in ….

I love the mystery, the reconstruction of history, and the way past and future define each other..

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….

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

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….

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….

[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….

I'd be a dope to compare my writing with Wallace Stegner's, but that book probably influenced me in ways I didn't even realize while I was writing Th….

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 ….

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..

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

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..

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 ….

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 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….

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….

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