I am always urging my students to honor their writing practice, to set up a schedule.

I was kind of an invisible girl when I was young.

Remember that the writing itself is good for you. If your story is so close to home that you are afraid to write it, it probably means you need to write it.

Adolescence is a modern construct and very American in so many ways.

When I am writing a story it feels as real as the life I am experiencing off the page. It's an emotional illusion, I guess.

Dwelling on pain, spending too much time immersed in it, tasting its flavors, fingering its textures--this makes it only more potent.

When you write a novel, you make other people see your imaginary friends.