I don't read for amusement, I read for enlightenment. I do a lot of reviewing, so I have a steady assignment of reading. I'm also a judge for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, which gives awards to literature and nonfiction.

Only when you have completed a novel, or a story, can you return to the beginning and revise or rewrite.

Why should I want what's good for me?' Beatrice asked him, smiling. 'Is that what you want for yourself - only what's good for you?

Writing is the most solitary of arts.

Was it confusing because it was artistic, or artistic because it was confusing?

I am inclined to think that as I grow older I will come to be infatuated with the art of revision, and there may come a time when I will dread giving up a novel at all.

Much of my writing is energized by unresolved memories - something like ghosts in the psychological sense.