I Don't Want To Stand With Somebody's

The Idea I Pursue Is The One That Keeps Coming Back To Me. The Characters I Think About As I'm Falling Asleep At Night Or When I'm Driving To The Grocery Store Are The One's I Wind Up Writing About.

If I Was A Waitress, I Was Too Tired At The End Of The Day When I Came Home To Try To Write.

Whenever I Saw Her, I Felt Like I Had Been Living In Another Country, Doing Moderately Well In Another Language, And Then She Showed Up Speaking English And Suddenly I Could Speak With All The Complexity And Nuance That I Hadn't Realized Was Gone. With Lucy I Was A Native Speaker.

I Was Starting To Wonder If I Was Ready To Be A Writer, Not Someone Who Won Prizes, Got Published And Was Given The Time And Space To Work, But Someone Who Wrote As A Course Of Life. Maybe Writing Wouldn't Have Any Rewards. Maybe The Salvation I Would Gain Through Work Would Only Be Emotional And Intellectual. Wouldn't That Be Enough, To Be A Waitress Who Found An Hour Or Two Hidden In Every Day To Write?

Some People Are Born To Make Great Art And Others Are Born To Appreciate It. … It Is A Kind Of Talent In Itself, To Be An Audience, Whether You Are The Spectator In The Gallery Or You Are Listening To The Voice Of The World's Greatest Soprano. Not Everyone Can Be The Artist. There Have To Be Those Who Witness The Art, Who Love And Appreciate What They Have Been Privileged To See.