I think growing up in such a small town - before cell phones, before the Internet, before Facebook, before we had access to people's interiors - there was a great deal of space between people's lives. I spent a lot of time imagining into the lives of the people I grew up with.

There are times when I'll send a manuscript to an editor, and I'll think it is the most likely project I've ever sent them. And they might call me the next morning and say they couldn't tolerate it. That happens so frequently that I've given up any expectation of knowing what anybody's going to like.

Public speaking, for me, or speaking even in front of a handful of people is my greatest fear.

I think of the part of me that writes as the most private self. It's the part that's engaged the least with the rest of the world's needs.

You've got to have faith in what you're doing and not take no for an answer.

The more in harmony with yourself you are, the more joyful you are and the more faithful you are. Faith is not to disconnect you from reality - it connects you to reality.

I have a business in North Carolina but am open to coaching or broadcasting as well. I've got four years on my contract and want to play as long as I can with my knees, but I'll let God take care of that.

My beliefs encompass all religions. But I never show my religious inclination in my films. My characters have dark sides; they aren't the god-fearing characters. It wasn't a conscious decision. I'm a very lazy and emotional person who connects with the common man.