Learn to write by writing

Updike and Bellow and Roth were my three favorite writers when I was young and throughout my life.

There was no one clear point of loss. It happened over and over again in a thousand small ways and the only truth there was to learn was that there was no getting used to it.

I'm very sentimental about lobsters. The last lobster I ate was the only lobster I cooked.

I love a large cast of characters. That's the way life is: it's flooded with people and we keep them all straight.

The tricky thing about being a writer, or about being any kind of artist, is that in addition to making art you also have to make a living.

When I wrote nonfiction, my best work was the really personal stuff.