I liked the idea of being a writer more than I liked the idea of writing.

The worst day of writing is still better than the best day of telemarketing.

I liked Shakespeare in high school, but in university I spent a semester studying in London, and it was sort of in the middle of me falling deeply in love with literature, and I took a Shakespeare course with a professor who couldn't imagine anything more important than Shakespeare.

I love teaching creative writing, and I think I'm good at it, but in a different life, I could have been teaching elementary school.

I started writing 'The Lobster Kings' the day after I sold my first novel, 'Touch.'

I get very tired of books that feel emotionally empty. I would much rather have writers err on the side of being overly sentimental than not. I think that the perfect balance is a story that moves you without being maudlin, but I don't enjoy books that are empty of emotion and there's no connection to the characters.