“The novelist is more like a pregnant woman who delivers her own child unaided. A messy procedure, with lots of groaning.”

“Ordering a man to write a poem is like commanding a pregnant woman to give birth to a red-haired child.”

“It's like scrying into that weird space. There's so much coming out of him, it shouldn't be possible. Do you remember that woman who came in who was pregnant with quadruplets? It was like that, but worse.""He's pregnant?" Blue asked.”

“She had been a solitary child, and then solitary as a woman, drawn into an orbit of her own that took her away from others, even those who would be her friends.”

“There is no pain compared to that of loving a woman who makes her body accessible to one and yet who is incapable of delivering her true self -- because she does not know where to find it.”

“To the woman in the restaurant today, the doll in her arms was the real child who still lived in her memories.”