I Exaggerated Even Before I Began To

I've Always Known When I Start A Story What The Last Line Is. It's Always Been The Case, Since The First Story I Ever Wrote. I Don't Know How It's Going To Get There, But I Seem To Need The Destination. I Need To Know Where I End Up. It Never Changes, Ever.

The Worst Of It Is Over Now, And I Can't Say That I Am Glad. Lose That Sense Of Loss—you Have Gone And Lost Something Else. But The Body Moves Toward Health. The Mind, Too, In Steps. One Step At A Time. Ask A Mother Who Has Just Lost A Child, How Many Children Do You Have? "four," She Will Say, "—three," And Years Later, "three," She Will Say, "—four.

I Started Writing By Doing Small Related Things But Not The Thing Itself, Circling It And Getting Closer. I Had No Idea How To Write Fiction. So I Did Journalism Because There Were Rules I Could Learn. You Can Teach Someone To Write A News Story. They Might Not Write A Great One, But You Can Teach That Pretty Easily.

I Probably Have Less Revision Than Those Who Have That Wonderful Rush Of Story To Tell - You Know, I Can't Wait To Tell You What Happened The Other Day. It Comes Tumbling Out And Maybe Then They Go Back And Refine. I Kind Of Envy That Way Of Working, But I Just Have Never Done It.

A Love Affair Begins With A Fantasy. For Instance, That The Beloved Will Always Be There.