"Fiction, though, is more than just surprises. The writer in the midst of writing, like the penitent in the midst of prayer--finds the self falling away. Or getting out of the way. Only when we slip out of our writer bodies do we truly don the skin of story. We become one with the piece we are creating...Sometimes it just happens, that side-slippage. More often, the author has to work at turning sideways, becoming a mere shadow of authority, to let the story through. As in good prayer, there is a victory in that disappearance of self. But, like prayer, it takes work at first," (p. 28).
"[even] At the worst of times, writing is like that for me: flying just treetop level until the story or poem rises up to meet me. There is a joy when the air rushes past my wings; there is a sense of completeness when the journey is over," p. 20.
"Most of us know when we write a good sentence or two, a couple of phrases, a line of poetry, a single character.
"The rest--well, we wish we could rewrite it once more and maybe this time get it right," (p. 21).
