It's where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we really are.

Sometimes I read reviews, and without exception I will read critical essays that are sent to me. The critical essays are interesting on their own terms.

The regional voice is the universal voice.

I come from people who did not go to college. They didn't even finish high school. People who one might call ordinary Americans who are very hardworking.

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

Whoever was stupid was beneath worry or thought; you did not have to figure them out. This eliminated hundreds of people. In this life you had time only for a certain amount of thinking, and there was no need to waste any of it on people who were not threatening.

Never be ashamed of your subject, and of your passion for your subject.