We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others.

So much of history is mystery. We don't know what is lost forever, what will surface again. All objects exist in a moment of time. And that fragment of time is preserved or lost or found in mysterious ways. Mystery is a wonderful part of life.

I thought I was clever enough to write as well as these people and I didn't realize that there is something called originality and your own voice.

I read a book a day when I was a kid. My family was not literary; we did not have any books in the house.

I started a second novel seven times and I had to throw them away.

I didn't fear failure. I expected failure.

A girl is like a young tree, she said. You must stand tall and listen to your mother standing next to you. That is the only way to grow strong and straight. But if you bend to listen to other people, you will grow crooked and weak. You will fall to the ground with the first strong wind. And then you will be like a weed, growing wild in any direction, running along the ground until someone pulls you out and throws you away.