That soldiers do terrible things during wartime should not surprise us.

If you're going to write about someone's life, you don't just use them for wallpaper. You have to honor and respect that life.

Read as much as you can. Write only when you feel the inner need to do so. And don’t ever rush into print.

Memoir is actually the most egoless genre, even though it might seem ostensibly so much ego-driven. In order for it to succeed, you have to dissolve the self into these larger universal truths, and explore these deeper mysteries. If it’s purely autobiographical and ego-driven, it’s going to fail.

There are many ways to drown, only the most obvious wave their arms as they're going under.

I believe poetry has very little to do with memory.

Certain stories we carry with us, events in our life, they define who we are. It's not a matter of getting over anything; we have to make the best of it.