In my situation, every time I write a sentence, I'm thinking not only of the people I ended up in college with but my siblings, my family, my school friends, the people from my neighborhood. I've come to realize that this is an advantage, really: it keeps you on your toes.
Sometimes Allah punishes and sometimes men have to do it, and it is a wise man who knows if it's Allah's turn or his own.
Books are not brands. Some people are very willing to see themselves as a brand, but you can't be a certain type of writer to a certain type of person all the time. It will kill you.
We cannot be all the writers all the time. We can only be who we are.
Normally, young writers have all the time in the world and they don't always use it well.
People with children will know this: when the childcare is over, it's over on the dot. You immediately have to go into child mode; there's no down time.
It might be useful to distinguish between pleasure and joy. But maybe everybody does this very easily, all the time, and only I am confused.
Sometimes, one wants to have the illusion that one is making ones own life, out of ones own resources.
Sometimes you get a flash of what you look like to other people.
Your mid-thirties is a good time because you know a fair amount, you have some self-control.