I still found literary criticism to be a suspect activity

I love Jules Feiffer. I didn't discover him until I was a little older.

Nancy Drew was always changing her outfits. I despised girls' clothing, I couldn't wait to get home from school and get out of it. The last thing I wanted to read was minute descriptions of Nancy's frocks.

You can't live and write at the same time.

At first I was glad for the help. My freshmen English class, "Mythology and Archetypal Experience," confounded me. I didn't understand why we couldn't just read books without forcing contorted interpretations on then

I wish I had a typical workday. I struggle to get up at seven and almost always fail. I just try to get to my office as soon as I can, but it's always later than I would like.

I'd been upstaged, demoted from protagonist in my own drama to comic relief in my parents' tragedy