I've gotta keep life and computers separate, or else I'm gonna go mad.

Don't worry about being worried. You're heading out on an adventure and you can always change your mind along the way and try something else.

I always want to write something better than the last book.

What interests me is trying to catch the reflection of the human being on the page. I'm interested in how ordinary people live their lives

I am grateful to Stacy Schiff first of all because she can write a sentence-because she offers us her scholarship with wit, clarity, and grace. Once again, she has done what only the best writers can do: she has made the world new, again.

Writing is revision. All prose responds to work.

I do believe that enduring geological features are important, though I don't think I can be clear about exactly why.