If you had an essentially happy childhood, that tends to dwell with you.
I want my prose to be as clear as a pane of glass.
... "You may not see the ocean, but right now we are in the middle of the ocean, and we have to keep swimming.
At first, I spend about four hours a day writing. Toward the end of a book, I spend up to 16 hours a day on it, because all I want to do is make it good and get it done.
When writers stop believing in their own stories, readers tend to sense it.
Paul Farmer has helped to build amazing health care system in one of the poorest areas of Haiti. He founded Partners in Health, which serves the destitute and the sick in many parts of the world from Haiti to Boston and from Russia to Peru.