In the novel, I can change things and simplify, and make events work towards whatever meanings I'm trying to get at more efficiently.

In the novel, I can change things and simplify, and make events work towards whatever meanings I'm trying to get at more efficiently.

I really practiced hard and got to a certain level of technical proficiency. I overcame some of my limitations. I was a hard-working, dedicated bassoonist, but I have to say I'm not a natural musician.

I don't do all that well in the writerly world. I'm happier being outside the flow.

Poetry is prose in slow motion.

As soon as you start doing that - changing things - it seems self-evident to me that you've entered the world of make-believe. If you pretend that it's true, and use your own name, you are misleading people. Fiction is looser and wilder and sometimes in the end more self-revealing, anyway.

You almost believe that you will never come to the end of a roll of tape; and when you do, there is a feeling, nearly, though very briefly, of shock and grief.