The essay is a wonderful medium. I might mention that some writers who longed to be novelists were better as essayists: Sontag, Baldwin, Vidal, Mary McCarthy, Mailer.

Most good essays are conversations with yourself - not just your decided thoughts but your dilemmas.

My other work, teaching, also is satisfying because I can be with people but in controlled circumstances, which aren't as likely to yield the pain of dealing with family.

Why am I attracted to all these lying quotes all of a sudden? Here’s another one. This one by Phillip Lopate: ‘(Children know it better than adults) that in telling a lie, fidelity is everything.’

I'm fortunate in being able to find great satisfaction in my work.

Have fun writing, because it enhances both the writer's and reader's experience.

I am apt to be harsh in my secret judgments of others, seeing them as defective because they are not enough like me.