Reading is the last act of secular prayer.
The Midwest is such a tabula rasa.
The oldest principle of composition: repeat everything.
I keep a quotes journal - of every sentence that I've wanted to remember from my reading of the past 30 years.
The 'information novel' shouldn't be a curiosity. It should be absolutely mainstream.
We will live with racism for ever. But senses of self, senses of belonging, senses of us and of others? Those are up for grabs.