I think the female first-person is still dismissed, demonized, especially if the book does not end on an empowering note, especially if the main character is perceived as unlikeable, or too privileged.

All of my wildness is in the writing. I have discovered I have to be orderly and boring in my personal life to be wild in my work.

My rage and sense of alienation as to how women have been written, have allowed themselves to be written, in so many ways, has political roots.

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.

I think genius can have a lot to do with nerve. And permission.

The nonfiction novel or literary memoir as authored by women is usually given a much harder time in mainstream criticism.

The hope in literature is that we are allowed to be imperfect, to write of our imperfection, without being overly critiqued for being unlikeable.