As Elmore Leonard Says, I

The Undoing Is Almost Always More Difficult Than The Doing.

Mercy Watson Is Pure Fun For Me As A Writer, Because I Think Of Her As Kind Of Sorbet - A Palate Cleanser - Between Larger Works. It's Always A Relief To Come Back To Her.

I Grew Up In Florida, And I Wanted To Go Home And I Couldn't. I Didn't Have The Money. The Book [the Tiger Rising] Was A Way To Go Home.

I Was Over At Alison's [mcghee], I Think We Were Playing Scrabble. I Remember We Were Both Complaining - Yeah, We Sound Like Whiners - About How Hard Writing Is, And How We Didn't Have A Story To Work On. Alison Said, 'why Don't We Work On Writing Something Together,' And I Said, 'eh, I Don't Know If I Could Work That Way.' She Said, 'well, Just Show Up Here And We'll See,' And I Said, 'well, What Would It Be About?' She Said, 'duh, It'd Be About A Tall Girl And A Short Girl.' So I Agreed To Come And Try It For A Day.

But Still, Here Are The Words Despereaux Tilling Spoke To His Father. He Said, "i Forgive You, Pa!" And He Said Those Words Because He Sensed That It Was The Only Way To Save His Heart, To Stop It From Breaking In Two. Despereaux, Reader, Spoke Those Words To Save Himself.