Fiction writing is a strange business when you think about it. You sit down and weave a network of lies to explore deeper truths.

But I think this: that whatever prices I've paid, whatever sorrows I shoulder, well, I have blessings, too. Not just my family now, but the others-the ones who have died...They're with me still. They're here...

I won't read novels while writing novels.

I love revising. If you demystify the process, it comes down to four strategies: what can I do to make the draft better; what should I cut out to make it stronger; what do I need to do to clarify it; and finally, what should I reposition.

Connecticut is in my blood.

If you risked love, it took you wherever you wanted to go. If you repressed it, you ended up unhappy.

Power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed.