A woman's body works as if it knew something she didn't, and does not have her best interests at heart. If you need to look your best it will deliver you a pimple; if you don't want it to, your period will start early; if you want a baby badly your body refuses to give you one; if you are content in your life, lo, you are pregnant.

Nothing happens, and nothing happens, and then everything happens.

I know that I'm a real writer because sometimes I write a story just because I want to; not because someone's told me to.

Writing is an act of generosity toward other people.

Confidence is something one acquires. It can come early or late but it is impossible to write without it. Mine came late.

Writers were never meant to be professionals. Writing is not a profession, it is an activity, an essentially amateur occupation. It is what you do when you are not living.

There was no such thing as defeat if you didn't accept it.