When you teach, it's sometimes necessary to consciously not write for a month or two - and then pick a time in the future to sink back in. It makes you less frustrated and more in control. I do best when I give myself breaks and come back hungry.

I'll write about California someday, I imagine, but I don't know when.

I think it's probably better to make a region your own, and then maybe you can go somewhere else, but a lot of great writers have stuck to one region.

One good thing the teaching has given me is the ability to read and revise my own work.

I think the voice can carry a story.

I'm suspicious of epiphanies, because they so rarely last.

I think narrators expect a high level of intimacy with their readers, and vice versa.