Some people are aware of everything that is going on everywhere at every moment in their lives.

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.

...if you catalogue grudges, anything looks bad.

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.

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 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.

I write because I want more than one life; I insist on a wider selection. It’s greed, plain and simple. When my characters join the circus, I’m joining the circus. Although I’m happily married, I spent a great deal of time mentally living with incompatible husbands.