Stories come to us as wraiths requiring precise embodiments.
Only when you have completed a novel, or a story, can you return to the beginning and revise or rewrite.
The regional voice is the universal voice.
The greatest works of literature seem to embody both "art" and "morality".
I remember once asking Grandma about a book she was reading, a biography of Abraham Lincoln, and how she answered me: this was the first conversation of my life that concerned a book, and 'the life of the mind' - and now, such subjects have become my life.
Writing is a solitary occupation, and one of its hazards is loneliness. But an advantage of loneliness is privacy, autonomy and freedom.