And my father, who never once in his life would have used the word 'nigger,' would smile and give an almost imperceptible laugh -- not a trace of rage on behalf of black people, not a trace of rage on...
That grace is having a commitment to - or at least an acceptance of - being ineffective and foolish.
Because when people have seen you at their worst, you don't have to put on the mask as much.
My gratitude for good writing is unbounded I'm grateful for it the way I'm grateful for the ocean.
When you don't have enough or you run out, you feel in your core that the leak has begun and there will be no end to the leakage. And this makes you feel like a chump. Whereas having some money gives...
Rituals are a good signal to your unconscious that it is time to kick in.
Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see yo...
Who as a young person, like me, accepted being alone quite a lot. I think that this sort of person often becomes either a writer or a career criminal.
We all wanted this because let's face it, it's so inspiring and such a relief when people find a way to bear the unbearable, when you can organize things in such a way that a tiny miracle appears to h...
Various people at her church kept saying that she could be happy because she was going home to be with Jesus. This is the sort of thing that gives Christians a bad name. This, and the Inquisition. Sue...
The insidious palace lie that we will get over crushing losses means that our emotional GPS can never find true north, as it is based on maps that no longer mention the most important places we have b...
That the dream must be vivid and continuous.
Telling the truth in an interesting way turns out to be about as easy and pleasurable as bathing a cat. Some
One thing about having a baby is that each step of the way you simply cannot imagine loving him any more than you already do, because you are bursting with love, loving as much as you are humanly capa...
It was about tragedy transformed over the years into joy. It was about the beauty of sheer effort. I
It speaks of such integrity to refuse to pretend that you’re doing well just to help other people deal with the fact that sometimes we face an impossible loss.
It may just be that you are developing a quiet doggedness. This is priceless. Perfectionism, on the other hand, will only drive you mad.
Inventiveness and playfulness and life force (these are words we are allowed to use in California).
Day by day you have to give the work before you all the best stuff you have, not saving up for later projects. If you give freely, there will always be more.
[W]hen you're dreaming, you're not the one calling the shots. So it's a reprieve.