But a lot of writers - and I'm one of them - do tend to feel dissatisfied. It makes you a little hard to live with, but it's a goad and does keep you alert and restless.

To be a leader is to be awake and alert, to be dissatisfied at all times.

Memory is funny. Once you hit a vein the problem is not how to remember but how to control the flow.

I try to help people become the best possible editors of their own work, to help them become conscious of the things they do well, of the things they need to look at again, of the wells of material they have not even begun to dip their buckets into.

There's a joy in writing short stories, a wonderful sense of reward when you pull certain things off.

Getting from La Jolla to Alta Vista State Hospital isn't easy, unless you have a car or a breakdown. April's Father had a breakdown and they got him there in no time.