The failures of other genres to provide an emotional connection with some of their characters and narratives gives memoir a toehold.

I was 40 years old before I became an overnight success, and I'd been publishing for 20 years.

I think we fall in love and become adults and become citizens in a way by writing stories about ourselves.

I'm bred for farm work, and for such folk, the only A's you get come from effort. Strife and strain are all the world can offer, and they temper you into something unbreakable because Lord knows they'll try -- without let up -- to break you.

I don't think I look like the pope's favorite Catholic - at least not under close scrutiny.

Nobody sounds good writing about your divorce, let's face it.

The truth is when I went to graduate school I would've said I was among the least talented of the students, I was certainly the least smart, or less educated. But I worked very hard.