It's such a complicated thing to put a movie together. The book world is so much simpler.

People tell me how great it must have been to ride horses and stuff. Well, do it for two days straight on dusty days when the cows and horses were really tired.

As a child, I spent a lot of time wandering around the prairies and in the hills, and there was a sense that it was such a wide-open space, and there was kind of a feeling of potential. I could imagine anything happening there.

The valley we lived in could easily be the setting for a fantasy novel or a prairie western novel. It could be anything.

As enjoyable as it is when you're just writing and getting feedback from family members, it's 10 times more enjoyable, or 100 times more enjoyable, when you actually start getting paid for it, and people start reading your books, and once in a while you get a good review.

When writing fantastical literature, your biggest problem is getting your audience to believe the fantastical elements of your story.