I think it must be very hard to be one of the new young writers who are urged to put themselves forward when it may be the last thing on earth they'd be good at

People always talked about a mother's uncanny ability to read her children, but that was nothing compared to how children could read their mothers.

I've always thought a hotel ought to offer optional small animals. I mean a cat to sleep on your bed at night, or a dog of some kind to act pleased when you come in. You ever notice how a hotel room feels so lifeless?

I remember leaving the hospital - thinking, 'Wait, are they going to let me just walk off with him? I don't know beans about babies! I don't have a license to do this.' We're just amateurs.

Once your mind is caught on the right snag, there's nothing so hard about the mechanics of writing.

(About parenting:) ... all that tedium, broken up by little spurts of high drama.

I forget a book as soon as I finish writing it, which is not always a good thing