In a book you can really talk about ideas and themes and characters in a deeper way than you can even on the screen..

Some roads you shouldn't go down. Because maps used to say there were dragons here. Now they don't. But that don't mean the dragons aren't there..

Let's not forget how beautiful simply washing dishes can be..

There's this overly friendly sense of community built up by very isolated people, and there's this Lutheran humbleness that keeps people from talking….

There's still nothing like a book to really make you feel like you've disappeared into a world..

Half of a broadcast show, in my experience, is things happening, and the other half is people talking about how they feel about the things that happe….

A two-hour movie tends to be a plot-delivery device; you tend to have to introduce all the characters, say what the goal is, and then get there with ….

In the TV business, you've got to write fast, and someone will tell you, "Can you rewrite this episode before... 6 p.m.?" So that's when you rewrite ….

It's amazing how flexible the human mind is in terms of jumping into a backstory or an aside. Vonnegut is a great example - it's not a linear story b….

I see myself as a first-draft writer, so when I sit down to write something, the first draft is usually pretty close to the end draft. There will be ….

I'm thirty-six years old and I've been married once and he left and I don't want to feel this way anymore. Like I can't be vulnerable. Can't relax. I….

It's always very important to me to try to create a story that feels unpredictable. You can't jump ahead and see what's coming, but at the end, when ….

A novel is a relationship, you know? When you read a book, the writer has done half the work, and you're doing half the work. You're providing the im….

There's only one note you ever get in broadcast and that's clarity..

My feeling has always been if you entertain people, they give you permission to do more on a thematic or character level..

It's good to be unexpected with it..

If I have to write on an airplane or get up early to write or write late, you just gotta sit down. When you have the time, you have to be able to do ….