It's important to set challenges that you're not sure you're equal to.

Behind the story I tell is the one I don't...Behind the story you hear is the one I wish I could make you hear.

I'll tell you the secret. When you begin with a character, you want to begin by creating a villain.

I need you to do more than survive. As writers, as revolutionaries, tell the truth, your truth in your own way. Do not buy into their system of censorship, imagining that if you drop this character or hide that emotion, you can slide through their blockades. Do not eat your heart out in the hope of pleasing them.

Why write stories? To join the conversation.

stories are the one sure way I know to touch the heart and change the world.

Gravy is the simplest, tastiest, most memory-laden dish I know how to make: a little flour, salt and pepper, crispy bits of whatever meat anchored the meal, a couple of cups of water or milk and slow stirring to break up lumps.