A dog can't think that much about what he's doing, he just does what feels right.

If we can't, as artists, improve on real life, we should put down our pencils and go bake bread.

Listen. To live is to be marked. To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story, and that is the only celebration we mortals really know. In perfect stillness, frankly, I've only found sorrow.

She kept swimming out into life because she hadn't yet found a rock to stand on.

It's frightening when things you love appear suddenly changed from what you have always known.

I write every moment that is humanly possible. I write every day and every night. The only discipline I lack is the discipline is to quit.

I love developing children as characters. Children rarely have important roles in literary fiction - they are usually defined as cute or precious, or they create a plot by being kidnapped or dying.