Be awake to the details around you, but don't be self-conscious.

I read Eve Ensler and thought it was fabulous. Not only that, but it was really the only thing I could relate to about cancer.

In the West, a teacher imparts knowledge to a student. In the East, a teacher transmits nothing more or less than his or her Being.

Shut up and write. Don't talk about writing, just physically do it.

The first thing is how awful cancer was, the experience. When you first go through it, you're just trying to survive. But when I wrote about it, I really digested it. It was unbearable but I had practice behind me.

Know that you will eventually have to leave everything behind; the writing will demand it of you.

We must remember that everything is ordinary and extraordinary. It is our minds that either open or close.