When I was growing up, I didn't feel strong. I felt weak. I felt like a scared little kid. So I naturally turned to books to deal with that feeling, and I really turned to fantasy. That's really what influenced my decision to write a fantasy novel.

The way I felt growing up, which was like an outcast - I was weird, I was a nerd, I read fantasy books - I think a lot of fantasy book readers and a lot of readers and writers in general have that experience of isolation.

Evil comes in many forms, and whether you are male or female, that doesn't matter as much as what lurks in your mind.

The 'Harry Potter' books had a huge impact on me.

People who put my paintings on their walls are putting their values on their walls: faith, family, home, a simpler way of living, the beauty of nature, quiet, tranquillity, peace, joy, hope. They beckon you into this world that provides an alternative to your nightly news broadcast.

Gay marriage was a trick: it's a tool to tell people to bake cakes. Laws are based on morality, so if it's illegal for a Catholic to refuse a ceremony, you are saying that Catholicism is immoral, and that was really the goal of gay marriage - discredit Christianity.

These characters, they have to evolve. They're getting older on the show, these are things that happen in everyone's life. People do get married... this is just a natural evolution. I wonder if we'll have 'Big Bang' babies in the season finale?

I know what it felt like to walk into school and have kids say, 'Mr. Spangler's here!' And I thought, what if I gave that power to a parent so the kid looks at them and says, 'Dad, let's make a smoke ring launcher in the garage today.' What parent doesn't want to be a rock star?