I realized I was never going to have any peace with myself unless I made an honest stab at trying to write.

A person deprived of beauty and pleasure puts me in mind of the Haitian notion of a zombie - a person disconnected from his or her soul, a person who works for others' profit but never his own, a person who mindlessly does the bidding of the boss and exists in an emotional and mental limbo.

I took two fiction-writing courses in college and majored in literature. I felt that I had a knack though I wouldn't go so far as to call it a talent. But it scared me. I felt it was a childish thing wanting to write and that I would forget about it eventually.

I realized I was never going to have any peace with myself unless I made an honest stab at trying to write.

Americans are incredibly polite as long as they get what they want.

The funny thing is, about the time I let go of any aspiration toward worldly success, that's about the time I started writing decent work.

From about the age of 15 or 16 I'd had the notion that I wanted to write fiction, and I'd done enough in college to satisfy myself that I had a knack for it - I wouldn't call it "talent" - though I wondered if I'd ever have the guts to actually commit to it.