You can't be a jerk in order to be a good writer.

If what a person wants is his life, he tends to be quiet about wanting anything else. Once the life begins to seem secure, one feels the freedom to complain.

That's important to me, to recommend books.

We have different kinds of intimacy with many, many people. I'm disappointed by well-written novels that only deal with two or three people.

There was such an incredible logic to kissing, such a metal-to-magnet pull between two people that it was a wonder that they found the strength to prevent themselves from succumbing every second. Rightfully, the world should be a whirlpool of kissing into which we sank and never found the strength to rise up again.

Anytime you write about priests or cops, they're hot-button professions.

I made a startling discovery. Time spent writing = output of work. Amazing.