It's amazing what happens when you stick yourself in a place and let things take their more or less natural course.

It took me 10 years to write a story that pleased me - that I could look at after it was published and not cringe.

The Kessler Theater is one such gem, an Art Deco beauty … for a slice of real life, there’s always the Kessler.

Haiti is unique - the first successful slave revolt in history, the first black republic etc., and then when you get into the culture, the voodoo, and that wonderful synchretization of Christian and African belief and symbology, it's like nothing the world has ever seen.

Maybe the light's at the other end of the tunnel.

I'm a writer, not an editor, and though the editing rarely cut into my writing time, it did take away from that walking-around-thinking-about-it-when-you're-not-thinking-about-it time that I think is important for writers. When you're half-thinking about what you're working on while driving, cooking . . . just letting things sift and settle, come to you.

If you could figure out how to live with family then you'd gone a long way toward finding your peace.