Every time your work is read, you die several deaths for every word, and poetry is like being flayed alive.

He honestly expected her to believe that she could make a bad offering and her ancestors wouldn't mind.

I have been writing now for over a week. I find it cleansing, refreshing; it is good for me.” (p.531)

Rejection isn't a sign of failure. Rejection is a reminder that there's always room for improvement.

Nothing is more comical than seriousness understood as a virtue that has to precede all important literature

Outlines are the last resource of bad fiction writers who wish to God they were writing masters' theses.

If a writer stops observing he is finished. Experience is communicated by small details intimately observed.

About writing:The trick is to make sure you love what you've produced--to Believe..in order to convince.

Put your soul in the palm of my hand for me to look at, like a crystal jewel. I'll sketch it in words...

Stories may well be lies, but they are good lies that say true things, and which can sometimes pay the rent.

I write whenever it suits me. During a creative period I write every day; a novel should not be interrupted.

You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying in the road.

Do you like reading? It's the best thing that can happen to you in life. Writing has other implications.

Like forearm veins, my interests spread in different directions and eventually led to the hands, to writing.

I writeNotFor the sake of gloryNot For the sake of fameNotFor the sake of successBut for the sake of my soul