As a writer we are our own instruments; we need to protect our instrument, because no one will protect it if we don't.

If we grew up with nothing, we're complicated with that. That's the thing I keep hearing from people.

Part of my spiritual work is learning to live with the knowledge that we can't protect our loved ones from pain and heartache.

I've always felt like my nose is pressed to glass. I always feel a little bit like an outsider.

I never troll for material. It simply presents itself, and is always unmistakable. This is why I want to roll my eyes when people interrupt themselves in the middle of some story they're telling me to say, "You know you can't write about this."

Music inspires me and puts me in the right mood, but to actually listen to it when I write - I find it gets in the way.

I don't want to lean back into the past, or forward into the future. I don't want to wish the present moment away.