I wanted to connect a modern story with a myth that I had read.

So many bad things have happened to them that they can't trust the good things. They have to shove them away before someone can get it back.

Look, don't just stare at the pages," I used to tell my students. "Become the characters. Live inside the book.

However far fiction writers stray from their own lives and experiences - and I stray pretty far from mine - I think, ultimately, that we may be writing what we need to write in some way, albeit unconsciously.

The point is this: that the stream of memory may lead you to the river of understanding. And understanding, in turn, may be a tributary to the river of forgiveness.

Only there's two sides to every story, you know. You just remember that.

Change what you can, accept what you can't, and be smart enough to know the difference