I cried a river of tears but he was too heavy to float on them. So I dragged him with me these years across an ocean.

You got to be right with yourself before you can be right with anybody else.

I know some things when I start. I know, let's say, that the play is going to be a 1970s or a 1930s play, and it's going to be about a piano, but that's it. I slowly discover who the characters are as I go along.

For me, the original play becomes an historical document: This is where I was when I wrote it, and I have to move on now to something else.

I found out life's hard but it ain't impossible.

I may be personable, but I assure you I am a lion.

A novelist writes a novel, and people read it. But reading is a solitary act. While it may elicit a varied and personal response, the communal nature of the audience is like having five hundred people read your novel and respond to it at the same time. I find that thrilling.