I live my own life and nurse my own wounds. It's not the best way to live. But it's the way I am.

No matter how long your've been at it, you always start from scratch.

Sourmelina's secret (as Aunt Zo put it): 'Lina was one of those women they named the island after.

But I care about the reader, and I'm trying to keep the reader's attention for as long as I can.

Scars crossed her welded wrists.

I know that attaching memories to books may be going out of the world, but while it lasts, it's a strong record of your life.

Novelists are always resisting autobiographical readings of their work, because they know how false those can be.