For Almost Anyone Who Chooses To Be

The Way I Feel About Every Book Is This: You Don't Finish It, You Abandon It. All Of My Books Have In Some Sense Failed, Otherwise I Wouldn't Write Another One. If I Wrote The Perfect Book, I Wouldn't Have To Write Again, And I Wouldn't Want To. That's Not True For Everyone, But It's True For Me. I Could Walk Away Then. But So Far I Haven't Managed To Do It.

The Best Thing About Writing Programs Is That It Rationalized The Apprenticeship Of A Writer.

But Really, It Was Reading That Led Me To Writing. And In Particular, Reading The American Classics Like Twain Who Taught Me At An Early Age That Ordinary Lives Of Ordinary People Can Be Made Into High Art.

I'm Seventy-six Now. I'm At A Stage In My Life Where I Feel A Lot Of Affection And Regard For Women, And I Felt The Need To Make This Clear In Some Way. I Don't Know How They'll Feel When They Read It, But I Feel Okay About It.

For Almost Anyone Who Chooses To Be A Writer, Since So Very Few Writers Are Able To Learn A Living From Their Work That Is Equivalent To The Living Earned By The Average Dentist Or Accountant.