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

This is true in other fields, too, that a legal aid lawyer gets a whole lot less money than a Hollywood lawyer who handles the estates of celebrities. Maybe the legal aid lawyer is doing something better, though, and maybe they're happier. It's not a completely unheard of idea, but I do think we have to remind ourselves at times to look for satisfaction in other ways.

It's a scary thing for fiction writers, when you're always writing from the point of view both as and for someone who is different.

When an editor first explained to me the difference between direct and indirect writing, I just thought it was a stylistic choice.

When I've taught writing to five, six, and seven year olds, it's not very different than talking to an adult writer. They're writers then, and when they get to be young teenagers they're not anymore. You might go and talk to them about writing, and they'll be very self-conscious or will have detached themselves from the group.

I find that I get very excited about what my students are up to and that I get to be the hurdle they need to jump over.

There are so many different ways, most of them helpful and legal, to get yourself into a state of mind where writing is possible. It's going to be different for each person.