At the heart of all good fiction and at the heart of all good gossip is the same thing: trouble.

Love is anticipation and memory, uncertainty and longing. It’s unreasonable, of course. Nothing begins with so much excitement and hope and pleasure as love, except maybe writing a story. And nothing fails as often, except writing stories. And like a story, love must be troubled to be interesting.

You lose a wallet or keys or something and you notice in a second, but your life can go missing and you don't even know it.

I revise like crazy. I start revising before the pen hits the paper.

I lost my job and started painting houses with a friend. The marriage had ended about the same time the career did.

The regional tags are often pejorative and dismissive. Don't think of place-bound stories, in other words, but of stories with a strong sense of place.

In revision, your imagination becomes deeply engaged with your material. It's when you come to know your characters and begin to perceive their motivations and values.