Instinct' usually just means our conditioning to believe this or believe that, without thinking to investigate.

The prophets of doom, in my experience, are generally ignored and usually right.

There is no real escape from autobiography into biography. The self has to be faced, or we die.

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.

guilt to motherhood is like grapes to wine

Style is what's there when you look at someone's writing and you know that they wrote it and nobody else did.

one learns best, and writes best, in a state of defiance.