If my favorite, most comfortable place is by our fireplace in cold weather, expedient places are on an airplane, in a waiting room or even waiting in line; frequently these days, while on the phone having been 'put on hold.'

The cleaning is something I use as a reward if I get some work done. I go into a very happy state of mind when I'm vacuuming.

The greatest realities are physical and economic, all the subtleties of life come afterward.

A writer can't subtract or excise any of his/her past because doing so would erase the work produced during that time.

I don't teach literature from my perspective as 'Joyce Carol Oates.' I try to teach fiction from the perspective of each writer. If I'm teaching a story by Hemingway, my endeavor is to present the story that Hemingway wrote in its fullest realization.

Love commingled with hate is more powerful than love. Or hate.

I never change, I simply become more myself.