I think there's something about a writer's disposition, that is, even if unaware, always slightly in a witness state.
In my life as a wife and mother, I'm always conscious of my desire to be present.
I found myself doing so much public speaking, more and more and bigger and bigger.
If there's anything weirder than an introverted writer going to lots of social functions, it's an introverted writer being converted into an accidental guru.
When I near the end of a book, it feels as if the entire universe meets me more than halfway and supports me. The whole world seems to shimmer when I find the words. My mind quiets.
Part of my spiritual work is learning to live with the knowledge that we can't protect our loved ones from pain and heartache.
We can't protect ourselves from pain and heartache. In fact, to love - fully, madly, deeply - is the ensure heartache some day.
When a writer's whole being is poured into a piece of work, there is never enough. The feeling of finally getting to the end of a piece of work, of making it as good as you can at that moment, is more of a relief than anything else, and then you wait for reviews.
I think so much about how we read, about the nature of solitude, and of community, is changing in ways that none of us yet understand.
I don't want to lean back into the past, or forward into the future. I don't want to wish the present moment away.
The truth is in the present moment.
I do keep a tiny little journal in which I write passages that I read and want to hold on to. This practice is sort of the opposite of Twitter.
The fact is that most husbands, regardless of religion - it's an old-fashioned gender divide where the husband wants to stay home and the wife is the one who drags herself and her children to whatever spiritual center they're going to.
