writing is like being in love. You never get better at it or learn more about it. The day you think you do is the day you lose it. Robert Frost called his work a lover's quarrel with the world. It's ongoing. It has neither a beginning nor an end. You don't have to worry about learning things. The fire of one's art burns all the impurities from the vessel that contains it.

There's nothing like rejection to make you do an inventory of yourself.

Today, there are more opportunities for writers in terms of access to larger success, but it's more difficult to publish a literary novel in the lower ranges. In other words, you almost have to hit a home run. You can hit a triple, maybe, but nobody's interested in a single.

Humility is not a virtue in a writer, it is an absolute necessity.

The best thing about being a best-selling writer is being a best-selling writer. More seriously, today I can write full time and pay the bills.

And every good artist knows that the gift comes from somewhere else, and it's there for a reason, and that's to make the world a better place.

Don't let anyone tell you that age purchases your freedom from fear of death.