Truly things are better in general now, in America, than in the past.

Truly things are better in general now, in America, than in the past.

Sometimes I write well when I'm very upset.

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.

I think the difference between writing as someone and writing for them is that when you write for someone, you take on a kind of political burden or message, which I don't think we have the right to do.

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

We have to give our poor, innocent, and undeserving-of-our-badness characters trouble in order to make them characters in a story.