Although I don't think love is quantitatively measured - in other words, I don't believe that you "don't know love until you have a child," that whole thing - I do believe it is qualitatively different.

I do believe that great love brings with it the terror and possibility of great loss.

I do write fiction, and I find it more difficult, but also more liberating. On the one hand, you can make up the story, but you have to make up the story.

I love poetry, but I find it so difficult to write well.

It's terrible to know that no matter how you try to help your child, his condition will worsen.

Nonfiction ties your hands a bit, and just like writing poetry in rhyme, it can force you to make more brutal decisions in terms of word choice, plot, etc.

I think it's more important to concentrate on trying to be, simply, happy. Once you've known deep despair, you feel even more motivated to be as happy as possible. That's how I feel.