"When I go to literary conferences that are non-genre, if it's just a broad literary conference, and I say I write literary horror, they respond, 'I can't read that stuff.'  I'm supposed to just say, 'I understand.'  I met a writer who does historical British non-fiction, from a specific time period.  If I'd said, 'I don't read anything before 1700,' I would be a jerk."

"The teaching of poetry has almost disappeared from the curricula of many English departments, and the AWP conferences have become a refuge for people who want to talk about poetry."

"AWP conferences are filled with would-be writers, but they're also filled with readers who love reading and want to talk about what they've read and what has mattered to them."

"There are many factors that create a writer and the most significant is need.  I often joke, when talking at literary conferences and events, that if we, the writers, could choose to stop, we would.  For most of us, the need to make sense of and organize life through story, particularly its traumatic moments, was born many years before we penned our first title."

"Do what you're best at. Don't make yourself miserable doing what you think you should be doing, do what you enjoy doing.  Utilize your time where it's best spent.  If you have a talent and passion for blogging: Do that.  If you enjoy Twitter and know the ins and outs: Do that.  If you are a great public speaker and love attending writers' conferences: Do that.  There's no one way to promote a book."