I write five, six days a week. The thing is capturing the voice. I feel like I've been perfecting one voice - in different iterations, sure, but the Russian-ness has always been the undercurrent.

The best thing about the iPhone is this that tells me where I am all the time. Theres never a need to feel lost anymore.

You want to read a book? That requires introspection. It requires time away from people and time away from the constant need to communicate and to connect.

Do not throw away your heart. Keep your heart. Your heart is all that matters ... Throw away your ancestors! ... Throw away your shyness and the anger that lies just a few inches beneath ... Accept the truth! And if there is more than one truth, then learn to do the difficult work -- learn to choose. You are good enough, you are HUMAN ENOUGH, to choose!

My first book really did change my life. It allowed me to fully express myself. There was a sense that I was worth something as an artist.

One of the goals of analysis is you become your own analyst. You continue the process even if you're not in therapy, whether you continue the process by walking down the street thinking about things or whether you continue the process, as I do, by writing about them.

The fading light is us, and we are, for a moment so brief (...) beautiful.