I Live In Cullowhee, North Carolina. That's

I Think Writing A Poem Is Like Being A Greyhound. Writing A Novel Is Like Being A Mule. You Go Up One Long Row, Then Down Another, And Try Not To Look Up Too Often To See How Far You Still Have To Go.

Intensely Moving But Never Sentimental, Academy Street Is A Profound Meditation On What Faulkner Called 'the Human Heart In Conflict With Itself'. In Tess Lohan, Mary Costello Has Created One Of The Most Fully Realized Characters In Contemporary Fiction. What A Marvel Of A Book.

I Think I Had A Particular Moment When I Was 15 Years Old. I Read 'crime And Punishment,' And That Book Just, I Think, More Than Any Other Book Made Me Want To Be A Writer, 'cause It Was The First Time That I Hadn't Just Entered A Book, But A Book Had Entered Me.

One Thing's Sure And Nothing Surer. The Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get- Children

Furthermore, Even If Ideas Were Gettable - Say, Stacked In A Secluded Cave Like The Dead Sea Scrolls - I Wouldn't Go There. An 'idea,' Especially One Adhered To From Start To Finish, Can Be Disastrous For A Compelling Piece Of Fiction.