Woke up this morning with a terrific urge to lie in bed all day and read. Fought against it for a minute. Then looked out the window at the rain. And gave over. Put myself entirely in the keep of this rainy morning. Would I live my life over again? Make the same unforgivable mistakes? Yes, given half a chance. Yes.

There are significant moments in everyone's day that can make literature. That's what you ought to write about.

Write about what you know, and what do you know better than your own secrets?

The fiction Im most interested in has lines of reference to the real world.

Fiction shows the external effects of internal conditions. Be aware of the tension between internal and external movement.

When a reader finishes a wonderful story and lays it aside, he should have to pause for a minute and collect himself.

It's strange. You never start out life with the intention of becoming a bankrupt or an alcoholic or a cheat and a thief. Or a liar.