When I Am Writing, I

The Book Begins And Ends With The Visits To Give The Impression Of A Tunnel Into Their Ancestors And Family History. I Believe In Going Backwards Into The Past - I Felt I Was Digging A Tunnel Back To The Past.

When I Am Writing, I Focus One Hundred Percent On My Writing. Then, By The Time I'm Half Way Through The Book, I'm Already Thinking About The Ending.

When I Was Very Young, I Used To Share Much Of What I Wrote With My Family, But As I Got Older And More Self-conscious, It Became A Much More Private Process.

I Try To Trace The Connection Between The Characters And That Way A Story Or Plot Emerges.

What A Sense Of Possession, Of Confidence, It Gave One To Have Pockets, To Shove One's Fists Into Them, As If In Simply Owning Pockets One Owned Riches, Owned Independence.