The shock of it was that this time, she had a lot of strength, ... Her husband and I assumed she'd overcome it.

I'm not sure I have the physical strength to undertake a novel.

I'm not sure I would have anyway, ... If I had been writing it at the time she died, that would have become part of it. It was about a specific period of going crazy and getting over it.

Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a night when choice was any more than the sum of all the choices gone before?

Do not whine... Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone.

What's so hard about that first sentence is that you're stuck with it. Everything else is going to flow out of that sentence. And by the time you've laid down the first two sentences, your options are all gone.