My mother's most common childhood memory of me is standing next to me trying to be heard over the voice on the page. I didn't really commit to writin… - Alexander Chee

It's the shadow on every kiss and every dollar, that it might not be there tomorrow.

Speak to your dead. Write for your dead. Tell them a story. What are you doing with this life? Let them hold you accountable. Let them make you bolder or more modest or louder or more loving, whatever it is, but ask them in, listen, and then write. And when war comes — and make no mistake, it is already here — be sure you write for the living too. The ones you love, and the ones who are coming for your life. What will you give them when they get there?

To survive, much less succeed, I learned I could not give myself over to either pleasure or misery in excess. Whatever you felt was not important.