The secrets of success are a good wife and a steady job. My wife told me.

I've never read a political poem that's accomplished anything. Poetry makes things happen, but rarely what the poet wants.

When you write it doesn't occur to you that somebody could think different from what you do.

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

Age focuses you. You are much better concentrated. There's more time when you travel less, don't do book tours, avoid interviews or public appearances. You walk the dogs, fish, hunt, cook and write.

The move to Internet-enable travel booking is creating massive convenience, efficiency, and savings for consumers.

I think writing is really about a journey of understanding. So you take something that seems very far away, and the more you write about it, the more you travel into it, and you see it from within.

That's the beauty of country music - you have to get out there and earn it and work hard. And when you're on the road with big name acts, you realize there's no easy way to the 'Promised Land' in this business.