The great pleasure for me in writing short stories is the fierce, elegant challenge.

My short stories are like soft shadows I have set out in the world, faint footprints I have left. I remember exactly where I set down each and every one of them, and how I felt when I did. Short stories are like guideposts to my heart...

Write a short story every week. It's not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.

A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.

If you're an American reader, you can love short stories the way other Americans love baseball; this is our game, people! We have more than two hundred years of know-how and knack, of creativity.

A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.