Quotes from Susan Minot

Recklessness is par for the course when you're 25.

Preserving that privacy between a writer and the work is important. You have to shut out all those voices that have reacted to your work.

Writing chases after the senses, and conveys them in an altered form. When it is done well, the senses come alive in a new and captured form.

When I was younger, I suppose I was interested in checking out as much about writing as I could: bad, weird, irritating, even things not-to-my-taste. Now I am less open. I will decide after a few pages if I want to stay in the world of the book, and if I don't, I put it down. I have less time left.

Illness can make us behave in the most surprising ways.

When I travel, I always take my Winsor & Newton watercolor kit, which is the size of a pack of cigarettes when folded up. I bought my first one in the 1980s. It was handy to bring on trips, and I packed it into a leather pouch along with a couple of brushes, a pencil, an eraser and paper.

I don't consider the first-world concerns any less important than the third-world ones.

Recording a scene with paint rather than film sinks you more deeply into your surroundings. You have to look a little harder and a little longer. And you end up with a memento.

In general, my own experience of writing an adaptation of 'Evening' gave me a chance to get into different parts of the book.

Between children and parents, there is a difficulty of seeing each other simply as people.

A struggle, to the person experiencing it, is a struggle.

The teenager's room is her cave. It is here she can meet herself, undistracted by the new hassles life is making for her. Here, she can reflect.

Families are endlessly fascinating. We all have one, and they have a great impact on who we are and what we do - Freudian as that is.

Minimalism has a connotation of being reductive, and not in the best way. 'Brevetist' is a better term. I'm trying to be as concise as possible and still getting across to the reader. When information is delivered in that way, it is very satisfying to me.

Off the packed trail we experience the miracle of corn snow, skiing atop the crust, like skiing on an eggshell that has been sprinkled with sugar.

There is no good reason. Don't waste your life waiting for good reasons...You'll wait and wait.

When I look through my sketchbooks, they bring back moments that I would otherwise have completely forgotten.

David Gulden captures animals in all their wonder and intrigue, without glorifying or romanticizing them. He knows Kenya's wildlife intimately, and it shows in the depth of his images. He has an artist's eye, which delivers beauty and transport in every picture.

So many bad things happen in this world because people don't know how to express things.

Change and renewal are themes in life, arent they? We keep growing throughout life.

A lot of readers want characters to behave in a responsible way, or they want to understand the characters' dilemma and act, in a way, on their behalf.

Painting keeps me occupied in those moments when travel can be aimless and even disorienting. Mainly it is a way to register at least some of the new impressions of a foreign place, when its thrilling barrage can sometimes overwhelm you.

I remember when I was in graduate school and someone in workshop would say, 'I'm going to bring in a chapter of my novel.' The thought that someone could think they'd write a whole long thing... I could only see twelve pages ahead. But then I realized that if you could see twelve more after that, you can start.

There are aspects of love that I once undervalued. Kindness. Having a sort of honor when love is on the table.