Revision is not the end of the creative process, but a new beginning. It's a chance not just to clean up and edit, but to open up and discover. The energetic prose comes about from all the energy that went into crafting it, I suppose.

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

The universe may be tenderly indifferent to our fate, but we shouldn’t be. We are our brothers’ keepers. There is right, and there is wrong. There are consequences to our actions or inactions. Disregard can be an act of violence.

If you think about it, fiction is nothing more than gossip about the people you've made up.

The landscape of childhood shapes us as it shapes the characters in our stories. You never forget the sacred places of your childhood.

I was always writing. I just didn't know if I was any good.

I had begun what I thought might be a career in social work. I was married and deeply involved in the anti-war movement. I thought I'd go about saving the world one person at a time. I worked with kids, teenagers mostly, in neighborhood centers, on the streets, and eventually in a drop-in center.