This woman who used to be in my writing class—I mean, I was giving the class and she was a student—every story she did was about her childhood and she was always using phrases like: “There was an empty chair by the door.” You know, trying to be depressing, because she thought it was more writerly, but I’m sure you’ve seen it yourself, some people get so lost in writing they forget to tell a story. It drives me mad!’
