"A writer needs to wear two hats. On one hand, you need to be the child, the fool, a person who is willing to take risks and reveal your soul. On the other hand, you need to be your most ruthless critic, the harridan with the red pen who goes over that miserable stew of a first draft and rewrites it again and again until something of worth emerges. A good writer, in other words, must be frank-hearted but mean as a tick."

— Marie Arana