If you are doing a piece about somebody, even if you admire them tremendously and express that in the piece, express that admiration, if they're not used to being written about, if they're civilians, [...] they're not used to seeing themselves through other people's eyes. So you will always see them from a slightly different angle than they see themselves, and they feel a little betrayed by that.

My writing is a process of rewriting, of going back and changing and filling in. in the rewriting process you discover what's going on, and you go back and bring it up to that point.

I was four or five, and my mother gave me a big black tablet, because I kept complaining that I was bored. She said, "Then write something. Then you can read it." In fact, I had just learned to read, so this was a thrilling kind of moment. The idea that I could write something - and then read it!

You aren't sure if you're making the right decision - about anything, ever.

I closed the box and put it in a closet. There is no real way to deal with everything we lose.

On the whole, I don't want to think too much about why I write what I write. If I know what I'm doing ... I can't do it.

It's hard to find a book that's safe to write. Because one always goes to dark or difficult places.