A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart.

Don't plan it all. Let life surprise you a little.

Each of us will have to make the choices that allow us to be the largest versions of ourselves.

But the sensibility of the writer, whether fiction or poetry, comes from paying attention. I tell my students that writing doesn't begin when you sit down to write. It's a way of being in the world, and the essence of it is paying attention.

Literature is about being a complex, contradictory human being.

It's always gratifying to hear from a passionate reader, and as a longtime educator, I'm especially pleased and heartened when that reader is a young student who is inspired to write me and let me know that my book has helped him or her find her way.

A book does not discriminate against any reader. All are welcome at the table of literature.