If a writer ever achieved that perfect book, Faulkner said, there would be nothing left for him but suicide.

something I never think about when I write a novel or a story, which is mainly designed to interact with another person on an intimate scale, in the silence of their reading experience.

every single distraction you may point to as the reason you have not or cannot make your work is all the same thing—it’s always just your fear of what may or may not happen if you make your work.