I've had an enduring appreciation of psychology.

Indeed, at times it's best to shut up.

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.

Domesticity has been a challenge for me but painful as it's been, engaging with family has been a school for reducing solipsism and increasing my understanding of people's different reactions to stress.

The knowledge that my discriminations are skewed and not always universally desirable doesn't stop me in the least from making them.

Until people see poetry as springing from all of life, they will isolate it in a creativity corner and treat it like a mascot.

You must read a lot of personal essays - you needn't reinvent the wheel.