And the sun on the wall of her room, the block of sun with all the tiny flying things in it. When she was little she thought they were the souls of dead insects, still buzzing in the light.

I just sit here and tell the story as though I can't help it. There's always something in the day that reminds me, that sets me off all hot and guilty and scared and rambling and wistful, like I am now.

I wanted to be a writer all my life. Since I was 10. And then at a certain point I began to assume I was one, which is rich, I know. I didn't meet a writer until I was nearly an adult, so I had no idea what I'd bet the farm on.

The desert is a spiritual place, we vaguely understand, and the sea the mere playground of our hedonism.

Wherever I went I felt like the last person awake in a room full of sleepers

It’s how I fill the time when nothing’s happening. Thinking too much, flirting with melancholy.

Past tense offers authority, distance, and present tense offers emotional immediacy.