As Elmore Leonard Says, I

The Words, "i Have A Dog Named Winn-dixie," Popped Into My Head In The Voice Of A Small Girl With A Southern Accent. I'd Been Writing Long Enough At That Point To Know Not To Ignore That Kind Of Red Flag. The Next Day, I Put Aside What I'd Been Working On, Started With That One Sentence, And Followed It All The Way To The End.

I Didn't Know At The Time I Was Writing Because Of Winn-dixie Where The Story Came From, But In Retrospect I Can See That It Was A Response To A Terribly Harsh Winter Here In Minnesota.

If There Is Anything That I Think I Might Use Later, I Underline It.

Stories Are Light. Light Is Precious In A World So Dark. Begin At The Beginning. Tell Gregory A Story. Make Some Light.

I Love Words; I Love The Way They Sound. Once I've Worked On Everything Else, The Last Drafts Of My Books Come Down To How They Sound.