I just like to inhabit a character really deeply.

Perhaps this is how you know you're doing the thing you're intended to: No matter how slow or how slight your progress, you never feel that it's a waste of time.

Ironically, writing a novel is not a way to sort out your confusion.

To be a person who sees a political ad on television and takes the statements in it as fact, how can you exist in this world? How is it you're not robbed daily by charlatans who knock at your door?

The better you learn to take care of yourself, the less you settle for being around people who can't or won't treat you as well as you're accustomed.

I think that there's some confusion in my own mind about what I believe.

There are people we treat wrong and later we're prepared to treat other people right. Perhaps this sounds mercenary, but I feel grateful for these trial relationships, and I would like to think it all evens out - surely, unknowingly, I have served as practice for other people.