The only difference between a published and unpublished writer is a tolerance for imperfection.
You need to learn how to walk the world, he told me. There’s a lot out there.
You said i could call you when i wanted but that you wouldn’t call me. you have to decide where and when, you said. if you leave it up to me i’ll want to see you every day. At least you were honest, which is more than i can say for me.
I’ve been trying to write. I also spent a lot of time on different campuses, in conversation, helping other writers. That’s what I do: I teach them writing.
To an outsider, I just seem like a list of accomplishments. To me, all there is is how often I fail.
You keep waiting for the heaviness to leave you. You keep waiting for the moment you never think about the ex again. It doesn’t come.
She had reason to doubt him; he was real good at planning but real bad at doing.
I never wanted to be away from the family. Intuitively, I knew how easily distances could harden and become permanent.
Know that in this world there’s somebody who will always love you.
I sat down next to her. Took her hand. This can work, I said. All we have to do is try.
Here at last is her smile: burn it into your memory; you won’t see it often.
As artists we are here to make you uncomfortable with the complexity of your reality.
Character is the plot in many ways.
The world should always be concerned whenever a vast human rights violation occurs anywhere on the planet.
I seem to have to make my characters family before I can access their hearts in any way that matters.
Katrina was one of those things that rips the clothes off of the guy who keeps saying he’s a saint, and underneath you see that he’s a monster.
Because I can’t seem to escape it. It’s a way for me to address and counter my questions about what it means to be human, or, in my case a Dominican human who grew up in New Jersey.
You think people hate a fat person? Try a fat person who’s trying to get thin.
I guess I’m just hopelessly fascinated by the realities that you can assemble out of connected fragments.
I was really drawn to thinking about the women in my life. Thinking about my mother, who’s a very powerful force on me. And I have these two very strong sisters who took up a lot of imaginary space in my life.