A Novel Is Written Not To Be

If Your Life Just Falls Apart Early On, You Can Put It Together Again. Its The People Who Are Always On The Brink Of Crisis Who Dont Hit Bottom Who Are In Trouble.

There Is Something Wonderful About A Death, How Everything Shuts Down, And All The Ways You Thought You Were Vital Are Not Even Vaguely Important. Your Husband Can Feed The Kids, He Can Work The New Oven, He Can Find The Sausages In The Fridge, After All. And His Important Meeting Was Not Important, Not In The Slightest.

I Was Raised In A Very Old Fashioned Ireland Where Women Were Reared To Be Lovely.

When I'm Working, I'm Not So Much Disciplined As Obsessive. I Have This Feeling That I Need To Clear Everything Away And Get This Down.

Write Whatever Way You Like. Fiction Is Made Of Words On A Page; Reality Is Made Of Something Else. It Doesn't Matter How "real" Your Story Is, Or How "made Up": What Matters Is Its Necessity.