I now know that some people feel unhappiness the way others love: privately, intensely, and without recourse.
Khaled HosseiniI would give them (aspiring writers) the oldest advice in the craft: Read and write. Read a lot. Read new authors and established ones, read people whose work is in the same vein as yours and those whose genre is totally different. You've heard of chain-smokers. Writers, especially beginners, need to be chain-readers. And lastly, write every day. Write about things that get under your skin and keep you up at night.
Khaled HosseiniShe passed these years in a distant corner of her mind. A dry, barren field, out beyond wish and lament, beyond dream and disillusionment. There, the future did not matter. And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and it accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion.
Khaled HosseiniThe short of it is, as an aspiring writer, there is nothing as damaging to your credibility as saying that you don't like to read.
Khaled HosseiniI have a theory about marriage, Monsieur Boustouler. And itโs that nearly always you will know within two weeks if itโs going to work. Itโs astonishing how many people remain shackled for years, decades even, in a protracted and mutual state of self-delusion and false hope when in fact they had their answer in those first two weeks.
Khaled Hosseini