Photo: Warner.

Do you have any things you would have done differently, or any advice to give?

Advice I don’t go in for. The thing is, you do not believe I know everything in this field is a cliché, everything’s already been said, but you just do not believe that you’re going to be old. People don’t realize how quickly they’re going to be old, either. Time goes very fast.

—Doris Lessing, the Art of Fiction No. 102