Nothing's a joke with me. It just all comes out like one.

We were in dialogue that was about something other than what we were saying.

Later I would come to believe that erotic ties were all a spell, a temporary psychosis, even a kind of violence, or at least they coexisted with these states.

But I believed in starting over. There was finally, I knew, only rupture and hurt and falling short between all persons, but, Shirley, the best revenge was to turn your life into a small gathering of miracles. If I could not be anchored and profound, I would try, at least, to be kind.

If one publishes, then one is creating a public record of Learning to Write.

An author's life is different, complex, and ongoing, while a character's remains frozen in one little story.

Personally I've never put much store by honesty- I mean how can you trust a word whose first letter you don't even pronounce