“When I'm writing, I know I'm doing the thing I was born to do.”

“I only write when I'm angry or sad, so because that's when I just have to write... If I'm having a good time and I'm happy and things are going really well, why would I want to stop what I'm doing to go and write at the piano?”

“When I write a story, it's not like I'm thinking about what I'm doing”

“I feel more alive when I'm writing than I do at any other time--except maybe when I'm making love.”

“If I'm reading something I happen to know and gets it wrong, I just don't trust the book any more. What I ask of a novel I'm reading is that it should know a fraction more about the things I know than I do. When I'm writing...I ask myself: would I be convinced by this if I read it? If I knocked against this bit of scenery, would it feel solid?”

“I'm doing one of three things: I'm writing. I'm staring out the window. Or I'm writhing on the floor.”