Quote

I can write for a long time on one novel and not get tired.

I don't write a novel every two years.

Most novels, I find, are three times longer than they need to be. Very little happens, and I don't want to waste my time with them.

It takes a lot of energy and a lot of neurosis to write a novel. If you were really sensible, you'd do something else.

The good thing about writing a novel is that you're creating an imaginary world and can take a break when you need to.

Novels are so much unrulier and more stressful to write. A short story can last two pages and then it's over, and that's kind of a relief. I really like balancing the two.

I'm not the most prolific writer in the world, and, sadly, writing a novel involves a lot of effort.

To make it interesting and worth doing, writing a novel has to be a leap into the unknown. I have to be unsure if I can write it; otherwise, I won't want to.

I'm never doing a long novel again, truly.

I just realized quite early on that I'm not going to be the type who can write a novel every two years. I think you need to feel an urgency about the act. Otherwise, when you read it, you feel no urgency, either. So I don't write unless I really feel I need to, and that's a luxury.