A lack of narrative structure, as you know, will cause anxiety.

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

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.

As a writer you can and should expect to hear conflicting responses to your story.

Every act of loving affirms the goodness of the lover just because he is capable of loving and being loved.

You will feel discouraged; you will lose confidence in your abilities; you will be bored with the characters–and the only way to overcome these obstacles is to write your way through them. And writing always works.

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.