Jonathan Galassi

A publisher - and I write as one - does far more than print and sell a book. It selects, nurtures, positions and promotes the writer's work.

Editing is more by-the-hip. You look at a text and ask yourself how it can be improved.

I've always used poetry to explain myself to myself. These things just sat in my psyche and then came out.

In a small spacecraft, it was hard for the other two guys to sleep when the on-duty man was talking to Mission Control regularly.

It took me realizing that a broken heart has never actually killed anyone to find the courage to ask for what I want, in just about every situation. That was part of my own growing up.

Another thing that freaks me out is time. Time is like a book. You have a beginning, a middle and an end. It's just a cycle.