I'm one of those writers who can't talk about what they're working on. The entire four years I was writing 'House of Sand and Fog,' my wife never saw a word of it. I just have to keep it in the womb, and then everyone can have a crack at it.

What is art if not a concentrated and impassioned effort to make something with the little we have, the little we see?

I think some people see those three numbers 9/ 11 and they walk away. That might be changing now. People are more willing to step into an artistic exploration of that subject. All you can do is let it go

Romance dies hard, because its very nature is to want to live.

Fear is a ghost; embrace your fear, and all you’ll see in your arms is yourself.

I really think that if there's any one enemy to human creativity, especially creative writing, it's self-consciousness.

Don't outline your stories. A lot of fiction workshops say you should. I say the opposite. I quote Grace Paley: "We write what we don't know we know."