... everyone must play his role.

I can never tell ahead of time which book will give me trouble - some balk every step of the way, others seem to write themselves - but certainly the mechanics of writing, finding the time and the psychic space, are easier now that my children are grown.

It seems to me that good novels celebrate the mystery in ordinary life, and summing it all up in psychological terms strips the mystery away

I never think about the actual process of writing. I suppose I have a superstition about examining it too closely.

Try Jesus, you won't regret it, a billboard read.

...if you catalogue grudges, anything looks bad.

But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.