The book works better if I know everything I can about the ending. Not just what happens, but how it happens and what the language is; not just the last sentence, but enough of the sentences surrounding that last sentence to know what the tone of voice is. I imagined it as something almost musical. Then you are writing toward something; you know the sound of your voice at the end of the story. That's how you want to sound in those final sentences: the degree that it is uplifting or not, the degree that it is melancholic or not.

They were involved in that awkward procedure of getting to unknow each other.

Just because you're sober, don't think you're a good driver, Cookie.

When you legislate personal belief, you're in violation of freedom of religion.

Ever since the Christmas of 1953, I have felt that the yuletide is a special hell for those families who have suffered any loss or who must admit to any imperfection; the so-called spirit of giving can be as greedy as receiving-Christmas is our time to be aware of what we lack, of who's not home.

I certainly think Obama is the most hopeful president I've seen in the country since John Kennedy.

Being wrong about important things is exhausting.