Italics provide a wonderful advantage: you see, right away, that the words are in a rush. When something exists at a slant, you can't help but consider irony.

You have to figure out who the right person is to tell the story. And often, people who are very self-aware will only sound as if they are pontificating if they tell the story.

When I lived in New York, not only did I have safety locks on the door but I had the music going, keeping the city at a distance, trying to find creative time and peace and so forth.

Women are obviously much more discriminated against than men in many ways.

People forget years and remember moments.

You put a character out there and you're in their power. You're in trouble if they're in yours.

I am not alone in bearing grudges against reviewers who have doomed a book's chances because they've missed the point, the tone, everything.