“Personally I read reviews because I’m interested by them, but they don’t have utility for me. The very act of writing is so enclosed that nothing else, including critics, impinges on the experience. Everything else is shut out except for the line you’re writing. If I have a central belief, it’s that writing has to be a purely subjective experience; you can’t keep a weather eye open for what people are saying, trying to please some ghostly presence looking over your shoulder.”