Was this the big one or was this the small tremor, the warning? Does it get better - does the sensation of being in a dream underwater go away?

I liked the fact she understood how we all have little secret habits that seem normal enough to us, but which we know better than to mention out loud.

Birthday parties make me nervous as hell. They're one of those things where you're forced to be happy. And even if you're totally depressed, you're got to pretend you're glad you were born, regardless of the fact that getting older means you're closer to dying.

I thought a lot about Nixon's personal history and the changes in America during his lifetime and tried to craft stories, which I thought reflected some of his personal history but also the backdrop of a changing America. Nixon grew up in a strict Quaker family. The idea of the American Dream, of hard work and not much fun, was ingrained in Nixon as a child, but curiously so was a love of music. Nixon himself was a pretty good piano player. So it's the contradictions that interest me, as I think we all have them.

The world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable.

You really can't write well if you're thinking about what the reviewers might say.

I'm nothing you can catch now. I am black powder, I am singe, I am the bomb that bursts the night.