I write most of my first drafts on an old manual typewriter, a really old one. It's a big black metal "Woodstock" from about 1920. I try to write everything down at once, in one sitting. The longer stories in this collection are divided up into sections. Each section represents a different sitting, a different idea for the same story.

I wanted to do a collection where the narrator is constant throughout, so that there's a little unity.

Some of the stories in Dogwalker were written as long as four years ago, but I wouldn't say I've been working on this collection for four years. I have always been a little unsure of whether I could make it as a writer so I've held other jobs and worked on other projects this whole time.

I want the situations and plots to be surprising and unusual.

I was living in a house with 11 dogs and all I thought about was dogs. I never had sex with any of them though.

I want people to read them and enjoy the experience and feel entertained. A lot of the best stories revolve around strange people, people whose decisions and logic and circumstances are not easily understood.

I know that some of the things which happen in these stories are not likely, but sometimes I wonder if they are not possible in some way.