If I'm At Somebody's House And They

..and I Thought How Liking A Boy Was Just The Same As Believing You Wanted To Know A Secret - Everything Was Better When You Were Denied And Could Feel Tormented By Curiousity Or Loneliness. But The Moment Of Something Happening Was Treacherous. It Was Just So Tiring To Have To Worry About Whether Your Face Was Peeling, Or To Have To Laugh At Stories That Weren’t Funny.

The Big Occurrences In Life, The Serious Ones, Have For Me Always Been Nearly Impossible To Recognize Because They Never Feel Big Or Serious. In The Moment, You Have To Pee, Your Arm Itches, Or What People Are Saying Strikes You As Melodramatic Or Sentimental, And It's Hard Not To Smirk. You Have A Sense Of What This Type Of Situation Should Be Like - For One Thing, All-consuming - And This Isn't It. But Then You Look Back, And It Was That; It Did Happen.

I Thought, If I Write A Book That Is Not A Retelling Of Pride And Prejudice, It's Not Going To Mean That I Will Not Get Any Criticism. I Might As Well Write The Book That I Want To Write.

Personally, I Have Never Wished I Were A Male Novelist.

I Heard Gillian Say, With A Laugh, At This Point, Does Anyone Expect The Liberals Not To Be Total Hypocrites? She Was Oblivious To The Possibility That Perhaps Not Everyone Present Shared Her Views, And I Thought, You're Sixteen. How Can You Already Be A Republican?