That's one of the many things about having the bookstore that I adore. I can walk into the store and say to somebody, "I'm glad you're reading this book" or "I'm glad you're getting this book" or "Don't get that book. I read that book and hated that book. Let's get you this book instead."

Some people need a huge amount of attention, and they are worthy of that attention, and they're still exhausting.

Do you want to do this thing? Sit down and do it. Are you not writing? Keep sitting there. Does it not feel right? Keep sitting there. Think of yourself as a monk walking the path to enlightenment. Think of yourself as a high school senior wanting to be a neurosurgeon. Is it possible? Yes. Is there some shortcut? Not one I've found. Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.

Staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps.

It was too much work to remember things you might not have again, and so one by one they opened up their hands and let them go.

I know where I'm going. And if I don't know where I'm going, I don't tend to get anywhere.

I could teach. I could wait tables. I could cook in a restaurant. Food and teaching were the two skills I had.