Personal matters -- Introducing myself -- Being taken for granite -- Indian uncles -- My libraries -- My island -- On the frontier -- Readings -- All happy families -- Things not actually present: On the book of fantasy and J.L. Borges -- Reading young, reading old: Mark Twain's diaries of Adam and Eve -- Thinking about Cordwainer Smith -- Stress-rhythm in poetry and prose -- Rhythmic pattern in The Lord of the rings -- The wilderness within: The sleeping beauty and "the poacher" -- Off the page: loud cows: a talk and a poem about reading aloud -- Discussions and opinions -- Fact and/or/plus fiction -- Award and gender -- On genetic determinism -- About feet -- Dogs, cats, and dancers: thoughts about beauty -- Collectors, rhymesters, and drummers -- Telling is listening -- The operating instructions -- "A war without end" -- On writing -- A matter of trust -- The writer and the character -- Unquestioned assumptions -- Prides: an essay on writing workshops -- The question I get asked most often -- Old body not writing -- The writer on, and at, her work.