I do not write about nice people. I am not nice people.

Two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is that if we are not beautiful to each other, we cannot know beauty in any form.

Change, when it comes, cracks everything open.

Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.

Fiction is a piece of truth that turns lies to meaning.

Two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is the way you can both hate and love something you are not sure you understand.

I did not begin with craft, I began with strong feelings and worked toward craft.

Class, race, sexuality, gender and all other categories by which we categorize and dismiss each other need to be excavated from the inside.

One of the strengths I derive from my class background is that I am accustomed to contempt.

The only magic we have is what we make in ourselves, the muscles we build up on the inside, the sense of belief we create from nothing.

I have wanted everything as a writer and a woman, but most of all a world changed utterly by my revelations.

Was that you, Pooky Bear?

Wisdom comes alone through suffering.

As seasons change, life changes!

WHILE writing, just try to have fun with your ms. Enjoy the process, but push on. Always push toward the finish line!

I have to tell you, I'm a great teacher. Ask anybody who worked for me, except some secretaries who weren't very good.

The trick in life is to hang out until the miracles come.

The idea that the world can unite without being regulated is clearly an illusion.

I would far rather add a character who generates strong feelings than someone who just kind of floats along, generating medium-warmth smiles of gentle affirmation.

Writing the songs and producing the songs and arranging them and recording them is your canvas and your palette and your brush.

I think a big part of being a success is confidence. Just look at me, I know I'm successful, and I am.