... such speculation is like staring into the hot white sun. you know the sun is there but you can't see a thing.
Joyce Carol OatesI have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted, when I've felt my soul as thin as a playing cardโฆand somehow the activity of writing changes everything.
Joyce Carol OatesI suggest to my students that they write under a pseudonym for a week. That allows young men to write as women, and women as men. It allows them a lot of freedom they don't have ordinarily.
Joyce Carol Oates