So, I don't work in terms of real time. I don't work in a timely fashion.

Imagining something is better than remembering something.

I begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character.

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 don't begin a novel until I have written, not just the last sentence, but usually, as a result thereof, many of the surrounding final paragraphs, so that in addition to knowing what happens, I know what the voice is.

wherever the TV glows, there sits someone who isn't reading.

And never forget, there is memory.