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

When I near the end of a book, it feels as if the entire universe meets me more than halfway and supports me. The whole world seems to shimmer when I find the words. My mind quiets.

Let me tell you something about hypochondria: It's a pernicious, undermining little demon. It won't kill you, but it will sap the color from your life so that in the loveliest moments, the moments of grace, you are hit with that whisper in your ear that takes it all away. I'm sick, I'm dying - I just don't know it yet.

Success is so fleeting, even if you get a good book deal or your book is a huge success, there's always the fear: What about the next one?

As writers, it is our job not only to imagine, but to witness.

Traces that live within us often lead us to our stories

I do strongly identify with being Jewish. I was raised Orthodox and had a childhood complicated by the fact that my father was deeply religious and my mother was not.