The biographies of the great men see their excesses as signs of their greatness. But Jean Rhys, in her biography, is read as borderline; Anaïs Nin is borderline; Djuna is borderline; etc. etc. Borderline personality disorder being an overwhelmingly gendered diagnosis. I write in Heroines: “The charges of borderline personality disorder are the same charges against girls writing literature, I realize - too emotional, too impulsive, no boundaries."

When I get too worked up about things I have always escaped into catatonia.

How difficult it was for a woman, once she was named by doctors, to become a writer, because many aspects of her behavior that are accepted in the genius or creative man are regarded as dangerous in the woman.

My writing has always been considered extremely important, even though I make slim-to-no money at it.

I always remember my childhood as traumatic, for various reasons; I always felt alienated, outside.

The memoir by women, read by female readers, is considered a market form, not "great literature."

I think so often, especially if the work is perceived of as being drawn from life, the woman, not her book, is reviewed.