“It’s in the sentences. Good writing is about choosing the right words and putting them in the right order. That’s it. That’s the secret.” –Francine Prose

The most infuriating thing my husband says when we’re fighting is that it’s impossible to argue with me—because I’m a writer.

What goes through my mind is Andrea Dworkin’s line: ‘They will say you are shrill. They will say you are bitter. But they will never say you are wrong.”

Then another quote comes to mind: good writing is the result of good thinking.

I am a seasoned student of the art of language. I can win affection just as easily as I can cut someone off at the knees. I think back to recent phone calls with people in my life — the way they hung up in that stunned silence that sounds a lot like fear.

When my husband confronts me about those “cutting remarks,” I tell him: They’re just words.

He should know. He uses them all the time. Take the other night.

He says: “I’m tired of fighting all the time. Divorce would be easier.”