In fiction, conceptualizing, I've found, produces dull and over-controlled text.

Nostalgia is, 'Hey, remember the other mall that used to be there?'

So here's something I know to be true, although it's a little corny, and I don't quite know what to do with it.

I'm very happy - if I can do even a little bit of work to get the short story out more, I'm thrilled.

We have not been energetic enough - white people haven't - in pursuing racial equity.

I'm a big fan of the Russians: Isaac Babel is just an exquisite line-to-line stylist.

I think that's one of the maybe under-discussed aspects of process - the difference between a good writing day and a bad one is the quality of the split-second decisions you made.