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

We read novels because we need stories; we crave them; we can’t live without telling them and hearing them. Stories are how we make sense of our lives and of the world. When we’re distressed and go to therapy, our therapist’s job is to help us tell our story. Life doesn’t come with plots; it’s messy and chaotic; life is one damn, inexplicable thing after another. And we can’t have that. We insist on meaning. And so we tell stories so that our lives make sense.

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

Reading is also a creative activity if you're doing it right. You can learn more from a story that's left the tracks than from a successful story.

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

Actually, my first literary heroes were the Romantic poets, so I began to get serious by writing poems. I have notebooks full of them that I cherish but am afraid to look at.

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