She hadn't been given the proper tools to make a real life with, she decided, that was it. She'd been given a can of gravy and a hairbrush and told, "There you go." -- Willing

A novel is a daily labor over a period of years. A novel is a job. But a story can be like a mad, lovely visitor, with whom you spend a rather exciting weekend.

There was the usual dreaminess, I suppose. Also a shyness that caused me - and others - to notice that I could express myself better by writing than by speaking. This is typical of many writers, I think. What is a drawback in childhood is an asset to a literary life. Not being fluent on one’s feet sends one to the page and a habit is born.

If I retain any freshness of approach, it's by going slowly having long intervals between finished projects.

You are unhappy because you believe in such a thing as happy.

As the most recently arrived to earthly life, children can seem in lingering possession of some heavenly lidless eye.

It is like having a book out from the library. It is like constantly having a book out from the library.