You can tell when something's not moving forward anymore. When the doubts you have about it don't go away.

It was possible to feel superior to other people and feel like a misfit at the same time.

I have a lot of novels that I haven't finished. I usually get 150 pages in and I realize it's not going anywhere. I don't publish everything I write. I must have six unfinished novels at least.

She thought a writer should work harder writing a book than she did reading it.

The time has to be right and the heart willing.

Chunks of his life fell away, so that while we were moving ahead in time, he was moving back.

But maybe the Charm Bracelets understood more about life than I did. From an early age they knew what little value the world placed in books, and so didn't waste their time with them. Whereas I, even now, persist in believing that these black marks on white paper bear the greatest significance, that if I keep writing, I might be able to catch the rainbow of consciousness in a jar.