No money, holes in my socks, living off oatmeal.

One likes to think there's something in it, that old platitude amor vincit omnia. But if I've learned one thing in my short sad life, it is that that particular platitude is a lie. Love doesn't conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.

I hope we're all ready to leave the phenomenal world, and enter into the sublime?

Taking on challenging projects is the way that one grows and extends one's range as a writer, one's technical command, so I consider the time well-spent

Everything takes me longer than I expect. It's the sad truth about life

I think it's especially important for an editor to say what he's enjoying. For a novelist to be told, midstream, what he's doing right can actually influence the unwritten parts of a novel in a positive way - praise helps a writer know what's good about what he's written, what's interesting and exciting, and what to work for in writing the conclusion.

To really be centered and to really work well and to think about the kinds of things that I need to think about, I need to spend large amounts of time alone.