He wondered if this was what clinical depression felt like, a total numbness, a weary lack of hope.

It's very simple. If you learn how to write well, to write with depth, cream will rise to the top. You'll get published. But, there is no secret.

Charm was the luxury of those who still believed in the essential rightness of things. In purity and picket fences.

We were supposed to grow old together, Dolores. Have kids. Take walks under old trees. I wanted to watch the lines etch themselves into your flesh and know when each and every one of them appeared. Die together.

It's hard to close the door on optimistic expectations when you love someone.

I love to write, so it rarely seems like work - even when it gets arduous.

It's good not only to realize that you can't please all of the people all of the time, but that you don't want to. There's a certain type of reader that you don't ever want to write for.