Meaning comes from belonging to and serving something beyond yourself.
A writer is someone who pays attention to the world.
A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.
I don’t ask writers about their work habits. I really don’t care. Joyce Carol Oates says somewhere that when writers ask each other what time they start working and when they finish and how much time they take for lunch, they’re actually trying to find out, ‘Is he as crazy as I am?’ I don’t need that question answered.