We have to diversify, we have to find work we can do that helps other people while helping ourselves, work that has to do with writing that isn't necessarily just writing saleable novels or getting huge advances.

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

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.

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

We have to diversify, we have to find work we can do that helps other people while helping ourselves, work that has to do with writing that isn't necessarily just writing saleable novels or getting huge advances.

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

You can't tell a writer they should just be more confident.