This is my job, my livelihood: the health and the well-being of the publishing industry. We're all responsible for this.

No one tells the truth to people they don't actually know, and if they do it is a horrible trait. Everyone wants something smaller, something neater than the truth.

People gave me such a bad time about wanting a baby. I didn't want a baby, and I still don't. I wanted a dog.

Nonfiction is easy and fiction is hard.

From my table inside I watch the glamorous women outside who are lunching on Spa Cobb salads without blue cheese or dressing. The man with the bread basket wanders from table to table, lonesome as a cloud. When he comes to me his basket is full and perfectly arranged. He gives me a smile of sincere pleasure when I tell him I will take both the sourdough roll and the cheese stick.

The Swedish he knew was mostly from Bergman films. He had learned it as a college student, matching the subtitles to the sounds. In Swedish, he could only converse on the darkest of subjects.

I think, if you want to grow a novelist, for that person to have a lot of boring time trying to entertain themselves is very important.