The most valuable moments and experiences that life has to offer are found only along its most treacherous paths.

The secret to being a writer is that you have to write. It's not enough to think about writing or to study literature or plan a future life as an author. You really have to lock yourself away, alone, and get to work.

It was like living in a new house. I saw the undersides of tables, walked through the tangle of chair legs. It would be good to be a dog, I thought. You would feel safe surrounded by all of these leggy objects that never tried to run away.

You must never allow something that happened to you to become a morbidly treasured heirloom that you carry, show people, put back in its black velvet pouch and then tuck back into your jacket where you can keep it close to your heart.

My only ritual is to just sit down and write, write every day.

My mistake was in underestimating the emotional force of a song you have already hear a thousand times.

Writing has enriched my life in ways I never imaged.