I write because I want to have more than one life.

I expect that any day now, I will have said all I have to say; I'll have used up all my characters, and then I'll be free to get on with my real life.

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.

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.

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

When I'm working on something, I proceed as if no one else will ever read it.

Sooner or later, even the sharpest pain became flattened.