I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think this is what lifts a book from that early calculated, artificial stage.

My writing day has grown shorter as I've aged, although it seems to produce the same number of pages.

The Amateur Marriage grew out of the reflection that of all the opportunities to show differences in character, surely an unhappy marriage must be the richest.

He was wondering if there was some cryptic, cultish mark on his door that told all the crazy people he'd have trouble saying no.

The first-person viewpoint is more enjoyable to write, because it lets me meander more freely, and it can reveal more of the character's self-delusions. Really all the advantages are with first-person, so I'm sorry I don't get to pick and choose.

I wonder how many times we dream that kind of dream-something strange and illogical-and fail to realize God is trying to tell us something.

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