Our pasts so many times determine the value of what is happening today. Everybody is midway in their story.

Place colors everything; It is the thing by which I find my way in my fiction.

My first novel was called 'Betrayed by F. Scott Fitzgerald,' about the difficulties of graduating from college, the longing and mourning you feel when all your promise seems to float away.

My parents were farmers' kids from South Dakota. My dad was an engineer. I wanted to be responsible and major in something pragmatic.

My first tic was to shake my head violently. I was in karate class, and I was shaking violently. All of a sudden, I just started to notice that the teacher was looking at me, and all the kids were wondering what I was doing. I suddenly felt really strange.

It occurred to me that my family had achieved the American Dream, from being poor to starting a business to giving me and my brother an amazing education. It's one reason I joined the Air Force, because I believed I can never give back to America what America has given to my family and me.

True education is concerned not only with practical goals but also with values. Our aims assure us of our material life, our values make possible our spiritual life.

Learning the Italian was tough. I tried to really come at from a purist perspective, really learn the grammar, syntax and conjugations.