No woman that I know is capable of leaving her child down for thirty seconds. She can't walk away without making sure that everything is absolutely as secure and safe for her child as can be.

One of the reasons I write is I like being surprised

Story is about pulling the reader in and a plot is a more externalized mechanism of revelation. A plot is more antic, more performative, and less intimate. When you're telling a story you're telling it into someone's ear.

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

Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you ­finish this book? Why not? The thing that annoys this 10-weeks-to-live self is the thing that is wrong with the book. So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. Change it. See? Easy. And no one had to die.

I think you know everything at eight. But is is hidden from you, sealed up, in a way you have to cut yourself open to find.

Writing is not my problem, it is my solution.