I think people feel for a long time that they ought to know how to write a novel in two drafts.

Sometimes it's interesting to see what people who have too much control need to do to write freely.

In many cultures, women are sometimes literally kept from learning to read or from going to school.

Maybe we're stuck with who we are.

The main thing is to explain to yourself that everybody suffers.

I'm very secretive. I'll write a whole novel and revise it, which might take me two years or more, and the people I know best don't know what I'm writing about.

Teaching is very important to me, and it has become more important as I get older.