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Novelists are in the business of constructing consciousness out of words, and that's what we all do, cradle to grave. The self is a story we tell.

It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life.

As a writer, you live in such isolation. It's hard to imagine your book has a life beyond you.

Any writer worth the name is always getting into one thing or getting out of another thing.

Really, as a writer, I believe that if you're going to write about your own life, you need to do it as honestly and candidly as you are capable.

I try to think of it not as writer's block, but a time where you just need to live life and experience things so you have something to write about.

A writer is always, always searching, even against her will, against all her better instincts, for the thread of a story. Everything is fodder. Everything is fuel. You can feel it coming on like the tingling of a sore throat. The brain never stops struggling to reshape every experience and feeling into a coherent narrative.

Life can't defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer's lover until death.

Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.