I read whatever the publisher sends me.

[Our first dinner with Alison McGhee] was at Figlio's [in Minneapolis]. I know exactly what I had, because it was so good: their three-cheese ravioli. But I can't remember what I said to Alison that night that made her laugh so hard. But she got me right away and I got her right away.

I think of myself as an enormously lucky person.

You must be filled with expectancy. You must be awash in hope. You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next.

May God strike me down with a hammer on the head before I write a book with a teach-y goal!

One, we [with Alison McGhee] laugh a lot - that was great. Two, I enjoy writing, but it's a lonely undertaking. To have someone in the room with me is an absolute delight and makes it seem less impossible. It became a kind of comforting, joyful process.

There can be a lot of longevity in the repetition of things being told again and again in a variety of ways.