Illness is a part of every human being's experience. It enhances our perceptions and reduces self-consciousness. It is the great confessional; things are said, truths are blurted out which health conceals.

and even a tea party means apprehension, breakage

But why do I notice everything? She thought. Why must I think? She did not want to think. She wanted to force her mind to become a blank and lie back, and accept quietly, tolerantly, whatever came.

Talents of the novelist: ... observation of character, analysis of emotion, people's feelings, personal relations.

There is no doubt in my mind, that I have found out how to begin (at 40) to say something in my own voice.

My own brain is to me the most unaccountable of machinery - always buzzing, humming, soaring roaring diving, and then buried in mud. And why? What's this passion for?

Blame it or praise it, there is no denying the wild horse in us.