I'm constantly trying to figure out how to crack that mystery; how to make a novel that has a sense of immediacy of a short story. I try to do that and I'll try it again, but I'll never get it.

Actually, you’re not famous at all. Maybe you’ll get some traction after you’re dead?

I revise and revise and revise. I'm not even sure "revise" is the right word. I work a story almost to death before it's done.

I think anything we do - eating, walking down the street, online shopping - gives you another perspective on writing stories.

I sometimes wonder if our memories are a myth. We think we remember, but we are remembering the story and not the actual event?

I agree with the Lev Tolstoy quote completely, but I also feel like there's more to it. What is a happy family and an unhappy family? We're probably both of those things at the same time.

A stellar, fully-realized collection of stories... grounded, wonderfully, in the river valleys of western Maine. You come away not only understanding a place but the soul of its people.

I've spent a lot of time in prisons, first doing legal work and later, teaching.

If a novel or a story works, you don't stop thinking about it; it doesn't truly end.

I have a friend who teaches yoga (or is it pilates?), and she said that I don't seem to live in the moment. And I said, "Exactly!" I'd go nuts if I lived in the moment.

I think some writers should wait for something to say.

The enemy stays in the hearts of friends. Watch what your friends know about you and watch what you tell your friends, remember, egoism breeds jealousy and ends a relationship in discord.

I'm consumed with thoughts of you. Have you bewitched me?

Depression is possessed by Gravity whereas A deep aspiration fueled by Will can defy any Gravity...

Every major religion documents the fact that we ourselves have to take action to achieve whatever we desire. So why leave it on luck when your thoughts, beliefs and actions create your destiny?

For I can raise no money by vile means.

Only a fairy tale calls a constant condition 'happiness'.

Poverty - the one thing money can't buy

I never wanted to look pretty on stage and sing about something we've all heard about before.

I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.

What in me is pure conviction is simple prejudice in you.