I have a basic indolence about me which is essential to writing. ... It's thinking time, it's hanging-out time, it's daydreaming time. You know, it's lie-around-the-bed time, it's sitting-like-a-dope-in-your-chair time. And that seems to me essential to any work.

I begin by writing paragraphs that don’t have an immediate relation to a plot. The sound of the story comes first.

Old age is not a good thing. It can be really hard, and those of us who have it a little easier should keep in mind that there are hundreds of thousands of people who are not as well off.

To be modest means that you have something to be modest about.

The word career is a divisive word. It's a word that divides the normal life from business or professional life.

I am very interested in people trying to write because I don't have a big academic background at all.

Write from what you know into what you don't know.