Novelist time is reptile time; novelists tend to be ruminant and brooding, nursers of ancient grievances, second-guessers, Tuesday afternoon quarterbacks, retrospectators, endlessly, like slumping hitters, studying the film of their old whiffs.

The truth of some promises is not as important as whether or not you can believe in them, with all your heart.

Jerome Charyn is one of the most important writers in American literature and one of only three now writing whose work makes me truly happy to be a reader.

I have a good memory for words, and when I come upon a word I don't know, I remember it, or try to - it's almost like a tic.

It is always so simple, and so complicating, to accept an apology.

That's the best thing about writing, when you're in that zone, you're porous, ready to absorb the solution.

I have a deadline. I'm glad. I think that will help me get it done.