I think that inevitably, the trouble our characters go through is a kind of metaphor for what's happening in ourselves.

Somehow we have to detach from feeling as though money is a quick and easy standard by which we can gauge how well we're doing.

Sometimes I write well when I'm very upset.

Being part of a community of writers is huge. I really think that's why people go to MFA programs.

Sometimes people want to know how to write a story from the point of view of a murderer and make her sympathetic. I think the answer is that you start by having her look for her car keys, because everybody knows what it's like.

I just like doing it, I like writing.

Certainly children are being encouraged far more than they were seventy-five years ago and are more accepted as they are.