There seems to be a tremendous desire among many people now to know authors and how they work, to know what's autobiographical and what isn't.

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

I don't have the courage not to write all the time.

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

I just like doing it, I like writing.

For some people, it's very easy to be spontaneous and they can pour out the most wonderful stuff. But it's really hard to exert control over it, to think, 'Well, this could be different. This could go in the opposite order, there could be more here and less there.' For other people, it's much easier to have rules and a methodology, but much harder to let loose and allow their feelings to come pouring out on the page. They're more shy or they're just more distant from their emotions. I think everybody starts with one or the other.

Certainly children are being encouraged far more than they were seventy-five years ago and are more accepted as they are.