Maybe that, really, is as good a definition as any of an artist in the world: a ruthless person.

And then, into the fantasy, as into a dream, would come the thought: it's not like this anymore; the world has changed. Just the way, even at that time fully two years after my mother's death, I'd catch myself thinking about her as alive; and would suddenly remember, an admonitory finger of grief upon my breast, that she was gone.

If you’re reading to find friends, you’re in deep trouble.

I measure my life out in books." "You should be measuring your life by living. Correction: you shouldn't be measuring your life. What's the point?

I’m not a writing group member, not a joiner in that way. I don’t seek a wide swath of feedback.

I've always felt that if a project seems easy, or even attainable, why pursue it? I'll always find the hardest path.

An abiding preoccupation for me is how much of our lives are invisible and unknown by other people like the Chekhov story The Lady With the Little Dog.