“Everything in a novel has to be intentional, even the things that aren...” — Scott Spencer Quote

Everything in a novel has to be intentional, even the things that aren't.

I was raised in a house on the far South Side of Chicago, in a development erected on a landfill made from slag and other industrial by-products a few years after World War II.

I try to keep a steady pace with my writing. I have found that super-productive days are usually followed by two and even three days when I can hardly write a word. I used to try for 1000 words a day; now I am high-fiving myself after 500.

Writers are stewards of the culture. Publishers, librarians, bookstore owners. We're all in this together. To write books that are gripping, important, that people want to have, is to keep publishing alive.

I want to really be purposeful and very intentional with the stories that I choose to be a part of moving forward.

Runners, by nature, are intentional people and normally pretty light on our feet.

I name my companies things that are intentional, that are specific, that are worthy of ridicule if you are anything other.

I want us to be intentional about being good to ourselves, and sometimes our food is a way we treat ourselves, but we need to be intentional with what we put in our bodies and mind.

While writing books about the past, I think about the present. It's not intentional, but somehow my books end up being written under the sign of a political mood.