There is no true life. Your true life is the one you end up with, whatever it may be. You just do the best you can with what you've got.

I love to think about chance - about how one little overheard word, one pebble in a shoe, can change the universe.

If I waited till I felt like writing, I'd never write at all.

I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them.

I'll write maybe one long paragraph describing the events, then a page or two breaking the events into chapters, and then reams of pages delving into my characters. After that, I'm ready to begin

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

Mostly it's lies, writing novels. You set out to tell an untrue story and you try to make it believable, even to yourself. Which calls for details; any good lie does.