...it's closeness that does you in. Never get too close to people, son.

But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.

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.

It’s like the grief has been covered over with some kind of blanket. It’s still there, but the sharpest edges are .. muffled, sort of. Then, ever now and then, I lift the corner of the blanket just to check, and .. whoa! Like a knife! I’m not sure that will ever change.

There is no sound more peaceful than rain on the roof, if you're safe asleep in someone else's house.

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

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.