That my complicated life could be made so simple was astounding.

Write like a motherfucker.

My concept of an advice giver had been a therapist or a know-it-all, and then I realized nobody listens to the know-it-alls. You turn to the people you know, the friend who has been in the thick of it or messed up - and I'm that person for sure.

And if you're gonna be a writer, you just truly have to be a writer. You have to throw yourself into it and deal with the negative consequences of that. And there are negative consequences. I mean, there are. But, it's also true that you wouldn't be interviewing me right now if I had worked at the post office. You wouldn't. I would be still writing, but I wouldn't have gotten as far as I've gotten, because I wouldn't have had the time.

Men's stories are seen as universal, women's as particular. What women are up against is the battle to not be marginalized.

What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?

The wanting was a wilderness and I had to find my own way out of the woods.