You may be somebody who writes best for a small press that doesn't pay very well, but you might have a fascinating and intricate style that might not appeal to as many readers but will be incredibly meaningful to the readers you have. Truly, that's as wonderful if not more wonderful.

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.

I've been astonished how often, when I convince a writer to tell a story more straightforwardly and to tell it more simply and directly, it turns out that this author is great and the story is wonderful.

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

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.

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

We still have so many cultures in which people are imprisoned and whipped and killed for writing what they think.