A writer who has published as many books as I have has developed, of necessity, a hide like a rhino's, while inside there dwells a frail, hopeful butterfly of a spirit.

The denial of language is a suicidal one and we pay for it with our own lives.

I wrote a novel called "Blonde," which is about Norma Jean Baker, who becomes Marilyn Monroe, which I called a fictitious biography. That uses the material as if it were myth - that Marilyn Monroe is like this mythical figure in our culture.

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

Writers and artists never pay attention to advice given by their elders, quite rightly. The only worthwhile advice is the most general: Keep trying, don't give up, don't be discouraged, don't pay attention to detractors. Everyone knows this.

In a family, what isn't spoken is what you listen for. But the noise of a family is to drown it out.

Life is like boxing in many unsettling respects. But boxing is only like boxing.