I think I write about things that are mysterious to me.

Because I don’t work with an outline, writing a story is like crossing a stream, now I’m on this rock, now I’m on this rock, now I’m on this rock.

What will happen can't be stopped. Aim for Grace.

The admiration of another writer’s work is almost in inverse proportion to similarities in style.

I don't write about things that I have the answers to or things that are very close to home. It just wouldn't be any adventure. It wouldn't have any vitality.

Whatever one intends, the work takes on a life of its own.

When I was teaching at Harvard in the 1970s, I went to Project Incorporated in Cambridge and took photography classes. I didn't even know how to aim the camera in those days.