I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.

I don't want to say I hear voices; well, actually I do hear voices, but I don't think it's supernatural. I think it's just that when characters are given enough texture and backbone, then lo and behold, they stand on their own.

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

She was good at talking with young people. She seemed to view them as interesting foreigners.

It’s like the grief has been covered over with some kind of blanket. It’s still there, but the sharpest edges are .. muffled, sort of. Then, ever now and then, I lift the corner of the blanket just to check, and .. whoa! Like a knife! I’m not sure that will ever change.

One sad thing about this world is that the acts that take the most out of you are usually the ones that people will never know about. (from 'Celestial Navigation')

I don't type [when I write] because . . . I often have the feeling that everything flows directly from my right hand.