When you find yourself alone, or in a transition, you dream more. These are also the times when you read books.

The only way to write a book, I’m fond of telling people, is to actually write a book. That’s how you write a book.

I think it’s very important to write a demythologized woman character. My characters are flawed. They are no better than they should be.

People whose lives are upside down often read fiction. When you're not sure where you'll end up or how you are going to be, and you're looking for some way forward, fiction is a great friend.

To be able to have the space to sit down and write has always been my central policy.

There are about as many ways to be dead as there are to be alive. People linger in different ways, both publicly and privately.

I think writers worry that you might not exist in some strange way if you're not writing.