My decision to start a new one is just that, a decision, since I never get inspirations.

When you have children, you're obligated to live.

It is not how much you love someone, but who you are when you are with him.

And I am interested in the fact that class is very much a factor in America, even though it's not supposed to be.

It seems to me that since I've had children, I've grown richer and deeper. They may have slowed down my writing for a while, but when I did write, I had more of a self to speak from.

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.

I would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them - without a thought about publication - and only in the last draft to consider how the work will look from the outside.