You have to be a warrior and say, "Maybe it's everyone else's system, but it's not mine." (from her recent interview here, on Goodreads)

Expectations are resentments under construction.

Small is how blessings, healing, progress and increase occur.

I used to tell my writing students that they must write the books they wished they could come upon - because then the books they hungered and thirsted for would exist.

The thing about light is that it really isn’t yours; it’s what you gather and shine back. And it gets more power from reflectiveness; if you sit still and take it in, it fills your cup, and then you can give it off yourself.

I'm here to be me, which is taking a great deal longer than I had hoped.

The real payoff is the writing itself, that a day when you have gotten your work done is a good day, that total dedication is the point.