Art doesn't exist if you just do what you're told. It only exists as an exercise of individual taste and freedom.

Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.

But what truly horsey girls discover in the end is that boyfriends, husbands, children, and careers are the substitute-for horses

Take naps. Often new ideas come together when you are half asleep, but you have to train yourself to remember them.

Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are. I love to eavesdrop!

There are hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings around the United States and in other countries, too. Wright lived into his 90s, and one of his most famous buildings, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, was completed just before his death. Wright buildings look like Wright buildings - that is their paradox.

The main thing about the novel that is totally fascinating: It's not possessed by the writer; it's possessed by the reader.