But if you kept thinking about a fight you’d lost, Mom said, you were programming yourself to lose again.

Pain collected into deep pockets and I was aware of this painbut somehow I could not seem to feel it. It was like a body-deafness.

I hope that in my thirties I grow as a writer, push into new territory.

When I was younger I used to lock myself in the bathroom and read in the dry tub. I was also a fan of the 'shoe closet.' Reading felt thrilling and illicit and deeply private to me, and I felt vulnerable doing it in public.

I moved to New York with the derangement of love. I was writing all these terrible stories, but I had never been happier.

It remains unbelievable to me that I have any readers beyond my own blood relations - it's a crazy, wild gift.

People really get myopic as they get older. We're not a culture that encourages dreaming or distraction. We're not ever good at just being. I remember reading some Adrienne Rich quote where she talks about how important it was just to watch bubbles rise in a glass.