I'm always wondering if he'll return. Sometimes I pray that he doesn't. And sometimes I hope he will. I wish on falling stars and eyelashes. Absence isn't solid the way death is. It's fluid, like language. And it hurts so much...so, so much.

I'm still afraid. I'm still afraid every day.

Because I write realistic fiction, I generally don't think about fixing anyone - I just think about how I want to feel at the end of the book - And I try to write toward that feeling.

I do believe that books can change lives and give people this kind of language they wouldn't have had otherwise.

There is something so deeply visceral about libraries for me-rooms and rooms full of people dreaming and remembering.

Mainly, I try not to think about my readers as I write - I just think of my characters and myself - If they're interesting to me, my hope is that they'll be interesting to others as well.

I love slow readers. And readers who think about what I've written, think about how it's written - and copy me!