“writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.”

“I'll write to you. A super-long letter, like in an old-fashioned novel”

“You can't write ... on the strength of influence. You can only write a good story or a good novel by yourself.”

“The artist who is too sensitive for contacts with the non-artistic world is thereby too sensitive for his vocation, and fit only to fall into gentle ecstasies over the work of artists less sensitive than himself.”

“Beginning a novel is always hard. It feels like going nowhere. I always have to write at least 100 pages that go into the trashcan before it finally begins to work. It's discouraging, but necessary to write those pages. I try to consider them pages -100 to zero of the novel.”

“I find writing novels a challenge, writing stories a joy. If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden.”