There's a joy in writing short stories, a wonderful sense of reward when you pull certain things off.

In writing you work toward a result you won't see for years, and can't be sure you'll ever see. It takes stamina and self-mastery and faith. It demands those things of you, then gives them back with a little extra, a surprise to keep you coming. It toughens you and clears your head. I could feel it happening. I was saving my life with every word I wrote, and I knew it.

To be a writer you need to see things as they are, and to see things as they are you need a certain basic innocence.

Because I don't have to be careful of people's feelings when I teach literature, and I do when I'm teaching writing.

We are made to persist. that's how we find out who we are.

But a lot of writers - and I'm one of them - do tend to feel dissatisfied. It makes you a little hard to live with, but it's a goad and does keep you alert and restless.

Work for most people is really very social, and the actual thinking is often done in community.