Mental work was harder than physical work, although it was not exactly the mind that teaching strained. (p41) - Maxine Hong Kingston

it's like a habit. I have to eat, I have to breathe, I have to write.

The way I've looked at it is that I want to write about myself and other people in the truest way possible. To write a true autobiography or biography, I have to know what the other person dreams and how her imagination works. I am less interested in dates and facts.

I feel that everyone has a blurred area, which is a border between their imagination and what actually happens, and I am very interested in that border.