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

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

The professor husband of a friend of mine has likened children to the insane. I often think of it. He says that children live on the edge of madness, that their behavior, apparently unmotivated, shares the same dream logic as crazy people's. I see what he means, and because I've learned to be patient with children, to tease out the logic that's always somewhere there, and irrefutable once explained.

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

I always say to my students, if you can do anything other than writing and be happy, then you should.

I think there's no question that there's a reason why small children make great art and why slightly bigger children don't. And it's because small children don't worry about what anybody else thinks and slightly bigger children start to worry about these things.

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