Love is always a surprise and you never get it right.

Novels are written, not wished into existence. You have to sit your ass in the chair or nothing gets done.

I grew up in a house without many books. The books the nuns made us read in school didn't interest me.

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

I learned to love stories by listening to them.

I write with a fountain pen. And then revise word by word and line by line so that the first draft of a scene is usually the tenth or so draft.

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