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" I spend about a year between novels. "

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" In real life I avoid all parties altogether, but on paper I can mingle with the best of them. "

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" Time, in general, has always been a central obsession of mine - what it does to people, how it can constitute a plot all on its own. So naturally, I am interested in old age. "

" My decision to start a new one is just that, a decision, since I never get inspirations. "

" I would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them - without a thought about publication - and only in the last draft to consider how the work will look from the outside. "

" When I read, I'm purely a reader. "

" My stories are never quite good enough. "

" I'll write maybe one long paragraph describing the events, then a page or two breaking the events into chapters, and then reams of pages delving into my characters. After that, I'm ready to begin. "

" I've always thought a hotel ought to offer optional small animals. I mean a cat to sleep on your bed at night, or a dog of some kind to act pleased when you come in. You ever notice how a hotel room feels so lifeless? "

" Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! "

" If I waited till I felt like writing, I'd never write at all. "

" I was standing in the schoolyard waiting for a child when another mother came up to me. Have you found work yet? she asked. Or are you still just writing? "

" I think it must be very hard to be one of the new young writers who are urged to put themselves forward when it may be the last thing on earth they'd be good at. "

" She worded it a bit strongly, but I do find myself more and more struck by the differences between the sexes. To put it another way: All marriages are mixed marriages. "

" I've always enjoyed studying the small clues that indicate a particular class level. "

" The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning. "

" It seems to me that good novels celebrate the mystery in ordinary life, and summing it all up in psychological terms strips the mystery away. "

" I remember leaving the hospital - thinking, 'Wait, are they going to let me just walk off with him? I don't know beans about babies! I don't have a license to do this.' We're just amateurs. "

" When I'm working on something, I proceed as if no one else will ever read it. "

" I'm too shy for personal appearances, and I've found out that anytime I talk about my writing, I can't do any writing for many weeks afterward. "

" While armchair travelers dream of going places, traveling armchairs dream of staying put. "

" Not until the final draft do I force myself to remember that I'm going to have to think about how it will affect other people. "

" It's true that it's a solitary occupation, but you would be surprised at how much companionship a group of imaginary characters can offer once you get to know them. "

" The hardest novel to write was Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. "