There's the belief that we can't be smart enough to write. And certainly censorship of women, too.

I began to see, again and again, stories that were first confusing and second where the emotional impact was muted because the big scene came before the explanation of what was going on. There was a reverse chronological order as well as a concealment of what exactly was going on. I think often that comes out of the fear of being boring, and sometimes I think it's just an attempt to seem clever.

Sometimes I write well when I'm very upset.

It's hard to say which of us is luckier, the ones who go through long periods when they can't write or the ones who can write pretty easily.

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

Writers sometimes are paid a great deal of money, but much more frequently they're not paid or are paid only a little bit.

Anyone with an imagination can write about the day-to-day experiences of someone he or she is not.