I was writing novels in high school and apprenticed myself in a way both to Faulkner and to Hemingway.

The great happiness in life in creativity belongs to amateurs.

Art is a means of memorialization of the past, a record of a rapidly vanishing world; a means of exorcising, at least temporarily, the ravages of homesickness. To speak of 'what is past, or passing or to come'-in the most meticulous language thereby to assure its permanence; to honor those we've loved and learned from and must outlive.

I would suggest the widow do things the husband used to do, so he seems to be there with you. You will feel like just going to bed. It's so wonderful, going to bed.

I feel a terrible loss when I (eventually must) complete a work of fiction.

No, the thing is, we all love storytelling, and as a writer you get to tell stories all the time.

It is important for me to discover the ideal title, for without this title the story or novel isn't quite in focus.