That's so her. You know, torn between Big Ideas and a party. She's always been that way.

If you’re reading to find friends, you’re in deep trouble. We read to find life, in all its possibilities. The relevant question isn’t ‘Is this a potential friend for me?’ but ‘Is this character alive?'

We live in a culture that wants to put a redemptive face on everything, so anger doesn't sit well with any of us. But I think women's anger sits less well than anything else. Women's anger is very scary to people, and to no one more than other women who think: Oh, goodness, well, if I let the lid off, where would we be?

Popular success is a wonderful gift if it happens, but like money, it's not the motivation. The effort to create a work of art that is true and potentially lasting, that is the very best work of art you can create at that point in your life - a book that may only reach or move a few people but will seem to people somehow transformative. That's the ideal; that's always the motivation.

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

The more accurately one can illuminate a particular human experience, the better the work of art.

I believe that, in an ideal world, writers would feel free to write what matters to them without having to consider success, failure, the market, etc.