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I go back to a very specific aspect of the Midwest - small towns surrounded by farmland. They make a good stage for what I like to write about, i.e., roads and houses, bridges and rivers and weather and woods, and people to whom strange or interesting things happen, causing problems they must overcome.

Most of the time I was in the Northeast, I lived in the country, and I think that helped me to discover my material for writing.

I like to write about beautiful places, interesting places to me.

I've always been sort of interested in the rural countryside. Things happen out there that are very strange to city dwellers.

I always considered myself a minor writer. My province is small, and I try to explore it very, very thoroughly.

I grew up in North Dakota around Dakota and Ojibwe people, and also small-town people in Wahpeton. Writers make few choices, really, about their material. We have to write about what comes naturally and what interests us - so I do.

I like to write about wherever I happen to be.

Faulkner came from my region and taught me how you could write about a place.

I write about kids growing up, I write a lot about schools and parents, and all of my experiences with those things have been suburban experiences.