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

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

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.

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

I think we need to develop the courage to write from the viewpoint of people who may seem quite different from ourselves, who might have a different sexual orientation or a different race or a different ethnicity.

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.

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