Swimming Always Cleans Your Soul

And It's Always Possible That You Will Not Get A Nice Review. So - And That's Enraging Of Course, To Get A Bad Review, You Can't Talk Back, And It's Sort Of Shaming In A Way.

I Have Never Begun A Novel Which Wasn't Going To Stretch Me Further Than I Had Ever Stretched Before.

I Did Not Know That History Is Like A Blood Stain That Keeps On Showing On The Wall No Matter How Many New Owners Take Possession, No Matter How Many Times We Pint Over It.

I Never Base Characters On Real People. There Are People Who Do That But I Really Don't Know How To Do It.

So In The First Draft, I'm Inventing People And Place With A Broad Schematic Idea Of What's Going To Happen. In The Process, Of Course, I Discover All Sorts Of Bigger And More Substantial Things.