Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.

We are creatures of story.

A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.

The human longing for story is so powerful, so primitive, that it seems like something not learned, but locked into our genes.

I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves - and then, maybe, read them again and find new things there.

Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the head of the reader. You learn the weight of words and how they sound to the ear.

Once one habit peels away the others follow it. You have to hold on, or the next thing you'll find yourself parading down the street in your nightdress. Habit is everything.