when you are dealing with art, any kind of art, your pleasure in making it is what matters most.

Writing the opening lines of a story is a bit like starting to ski at the steepest part of a hill. You must have all your skills under control from the first instant.

my experience as a fiction writer tells me that the deeper I look into myself, the more universal is the experience I find there.

when you are dealing with art, any kind of art, your pleasure in making it is what matters most.

another word for talent is obsession.

It is the nature of stories to leave out far more than they include.

I grew up in a small town with a very small library. But the books in the library opened a large place in my heart. It is the place where stories live. And those stories have been informing my days, comforting my nights, and extending possibilities ever since. If that library had not been there, if the books - such as they were - had not been free, my world would be poor, even today.