There should really not be anything gratuitous in a work of art. Sometimes what seems as if it's gratuitous may be a passage in which a character is being characterized so that the reader comes to know him or her better.
I'm drawn to failure. I feel like I'm contending with it constantly in my own life.
A daydreamer is prepared for most things.
I think it's very important for writers and artists generally to be witnesses to the world, and to be transparent. To let other people speak... to travel... to experience the world. And memorialize it.
I would suggest the widow do things the husband used to do, so he seems to be there with you. You will feel like just going to bed. It's so wonderful, going to bed.
I should say, one of the things about being a widow or a widower, you really, really need a sense of humor, because everything's going to fall apart.
