Because I've always been a fairly nervous person.

No one reads to hear someone complain about the weather or how poorly their children are behaving. You have to give the readers a reason to turn the page. As a writer you have to invite someone to turn the page. And that is a skill you have to refine. That is why you have to read. You have to read to learn what it is that makes people turn the page.

Often I'd take out my magnifying glass and stare into the chaos that was her face.

I didn't know about the rest of the class, but when Bastille Day eventually rolled around, I planned to stay home and clean my oven.

I don't think my life is more interesting than anybody else's.

Sometimes with 'The New Yorker,' they have grammar rules that just don't feel right in my mouth.

Like all of my friends, she's a lousy judge of character.