Why do I always feel like you're trying to staple my umbilical cord to the corner of your desk?

Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work.

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.

The story of Ulysses and Agamemnon and Menelaus, of Jesus, of the Good Knight of Chaucer, lives in every one of us.

Why do I always feel like you're trying to staple my umbilical cord to the corner of your desk?

Don't undo a brave and noble deed. Don't rob yourself of your own virtue.

You have two choices in life. You either die or do something with your time. You're going to be doing something - why not write?