“But since I do happen to have a bit of ability to write novels, and have had some good luck on my side, plus a stubborn
streak (or, to put it more nicely, a consistency) that's proved helpful, I've been able, over thirty-five years, to write novels
as a profession. To this day it continues to amaze me. It really does. What I've wanted to talk about in this book is that very
sense of amazement, about the strong desire (or will, you might say) to hold onto the purity of that feeling of amazement.
Perhaps the past thirty-five years of my life have been the ardent pursuit to maintain that sense of amazement. It certainly
feels that way.”