When I'm working on something, I proceed as if no one else will ever read it..

When I read, I'm purely a reader.

I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think thi….

People imagine that missing a loved one works kind of like missing cigarettes,' he said. 'The first day is really hard but the next day is less hard ….

For me, writing something down was the only road out...I hated childhood, and spent it sitting behind a book waiting for adulthood to arrive. When I ….

People always talked about a mother's uncanny ability to read her children, but that was nothing compared to how children could read their mothers..

Now peculiar scraps of knowledge were stuck to him like lint from all his jobs..

People who hadn't suffered a loss yet struck me as not quite grown up..

I don't know what takes more courage: surviving a lifelong endurance test because you once made a promise or breaking free, disrupting all your world..

I'm too shy for personal appearances, and I've found out that anytime I talk about my writing, I can't do any writing for many weeks afterward..

I have spent so long erecting partitions around the part of me that writes - learning how to close the door on it when ordinary lfe intervenes, how t….

Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person..

And I am interested in the fact that class is very much a factor in America, even though it's not supposed to be..

The Amateur Marriage grew out of the reflection that of all the opportunities to show differences in character, surely an unhappy marriage must be th….

I would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them - without a thought about publication - and only ….

I think it must be very hard to be one of the new young writers who are urged to put themselves forward when it may be the last thing on earth they'd….

I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them..

It's true that writing is a solitary occupation, but you would be surprised at how much companionship a group of imaginary characters can offer once ….

Reading any piece of writing aloud is an acid test, particularly when it comes to dialogue. There were writers I'd always admired who suddenly rang f….

It struck her all at once that dealing with other human beings was an awful lot of work..

... everyone must play his role..