I love the earth too much to contemplate a life apart from it, although I believe in that life.

I love the earth too much to contemplate a life apart from it, although I believe in that life.

I know I learn a lot from the students in my class and I'm not just saying that to sound like some generous teacher.

I feel that writers think with their noses to the ground, and the dark stuff kind of comes to me more, even though I really am sort of an upbeat guy. It's an honest descent into darkness. And you can't have the joy without the grief - it's why we listen to Mozart's 'Requiem.'

I love short stories because I believe they are the way we live.

I'm one of those writers who can't talk about what they're working on. The entire four years I was writing 'House of Sand and Fog,' my wife never saw a word of it. I just have to keep it in the womb, and then everyone can have a crack at it.

Talent is cheap. What really matters is discipline.