“When I’m alone, I’m in the company of the most interesting dog I know.”

“I’m flatulent in many languages.”

“Hank is a dog, not a human dressed up in a dog suit. Humans share some of his flaws, but I get my ideas from watching dogs.”

“My idea of being a nice dog stops short of getting murdered for it.”

“My parents placed a high value on reading, starting with the King James Bible, and one whole wall of our living room was filled, floor to ceiling, with books. But I was an outside kid and didn’t have the patience to be a reader. That changed, briefly, when I discovered Tom Sawyer in the fourth grade. That was the one book I truly loved. I read it several times, then read Huckleberry Finn. I was fascinated by the way Twain played with language and used regional dialects. But what amazed me most was that Twain allowed the reader to laugh. Reading didn’t have to be drudgery. Twain didn’t allow it.”

“Write about something you know. Try to leave your readers better off than they were before.”

“Coyotes can’t expect to keep friends when they eat them all the time.”