What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

Whenever you talk about writing I think you have to remember that it all has a big question mark over it - every word has a big question mark over it.

There's also a way that you have of being precise but also allusive, that works well for me - it's something about the open-hearted way you frame your queries. Instead of feeling daunted or discouraged, I feel excited to give whatever it is a try. This takes a lot of editorial wisdom and confidence - to know just how to get the writer to take that extra chance.

Positive human action is not only possible, but pervasive; human beings can improve and choose light and so on. And this is all happening.

With nonfiction, I go in trying to be really honest about what my preconceptions are.

The other thing that's useful for me is this notion of the absolute versus the relative:if we walk out and it's a beautiful morning, it's only a beautiful morning because we don't have a broken leg or hemorrhoids or something.

I don't really do much social media. I just don't like it that much. I've trained myself to write very slowly for a lot of money so it really galls me to write quickly for free.