I write novellas because I don't like loose sprawling prose.

I like grit, I like love and death, I'm tired of irony. ... A lot of good fiction is sentimental. ... The novelist who refuses sentiment refuses the full spectrum of human behavior, and then he just dries up. ... I would rather give full vent to all human loves and disappointments, and take a chance on being corny, than die a smartass.

That is simply the most beautiful publishing office in the world, with that cranky old building in that wonderful park.

We Americans are trained to think big, talk big, act big, love big, admire bigness but then the essential mystery is in the small.

Strangely, when I totally emerged from this slump I couldn't comprehend how I had almost drowned it it.

New Yorkers are mostly interested in New York - in case you haven't noticed.

I couldn't run a tight schedule, and if you're any good at teaching, you get sucked dry because you like your students and you're trying to help them, but you don't have any time left to write yourself.