Im sure there are people who survive tragedy without humor, but Ive never met any of them. Nor would I be particularly interested in writing about them if I did meet them. – Ayelet Waldman
As a novelist, I mined my history, my family and my memory, but in a very specific way. Writing fiction, I never made use of experiences immediately as they happened. I needed to let things fester in my memory, mature and transmogrify into something meaningful. – Ayelet Waldman