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

Loneliness is like starvation: you don't realize how hungry you are until you begin to eat.

But he doesn't love her. I invented that. It is a plot if you imagine people in love--the lazy looping criss crosses of love, blows, stares, tears. No. It doesn't happen. No love. People meet, touch, stare into one another's faces, shake their heads clear, move on, forget. It doesn't happen.

The secret of being a writer: not to expect others to value what you've done as you value it. Not to expect anyone else to perceive in it the emotions you have invested in it. Once this is understood, all will be well.

I work very slowly. It's like building a ladder, where you're building your own ladder rung by rung, and you're climbing the ladder. It's not the best way to build a ladder, but I don't know any other way.

Don't try to anticipate an ideal reader - or any reader. He/she might exist - but is reading someone else.

On the elusive gift of blending austerity of craft with elasticity of allure.