I've been astonished how often, when I convince a writer to tell a story more straightforwardly and to tell it more simply and directly, it turns out that this author is great and the story is wonderful.

Teaching is very important to me, and it has become more important as I get older.

I don't really like to tell people to get out drugs.

I love it when people can help me with my work, so I do show it.

We have to diversify, we have to find work we can do that helps other people while helping ourselves, work that has to do with writing that isn't necessarily just writing saleable novels or getting huge advances.

Truly things are better in general now, in America, than in the past.

We're always inventing, even if we're making someone who's fairly close to ourselves.