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.

Eruptions of talent continue to happen in Haiti, in spite of everything.

I think if you spend much time dwelling on influence you can get self-conscious about every line you write. That's a great way to freeze up.

I never listen to music when I'm writing.

I kept going back while I was writing the novel - which never sold, may it rest in peace - and by the time it was finished I had too many connections to Haiti to walk away.

By the end of the first decade of writing, I considered myself a confirmed failure in the eyes of the world.

If a person wants to be of any use to himself, he better insist on getting his fair share of beauty and pleasure, and if there's something about the system that's keeping him from getting his share, then I think he's well within his rights to fight to change that.