Springtime always takes me to upstate New York. The area’stopography, geography and natural beauty have become a part of me, qualities that have contributed to my life and my writing. Reflections of the part of my youth spent in this area of the country include a sense of time, place and history.

In Minisink, a new novel I’m working on, I write, “The land was flat, scrub brush, wild grass, and sand, surrounded by deep pine woods.