I'm trying always to leave out what I think is extraneous. And to find what I think is the most wonderful language to make a beautiful sentence.

It's not the writer who determines how good she is anyway. Writers don't determine that. It's readers who determine that.

I think many writers really believe that being published is a traumatic experience.

I write about what I'm thinking about. I write about what is bothering me or what is a political, aesthetic, or ethical issue or something, and then I figure out how to do it. I don't write essays that kind of just sustain one thought. I tend to move around because that's what I like.

I don't know what a natural thought process is.

Now that I'm an older woman, I'm so much more aware of the changes - almost too aware. I feel sorry for being so dismissive. You have to think about what you're thinking about and realize that you're thinking it.

I'm very interested in animal behavior, and the relationship of human beings to other animal behavior.