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

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.

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.

You'd think family would be the one sure thing in life, the gimme? Points you got just for being born? So much thick, meaty stuff bound you to these people, so many interlocking spirals of history, genetics, common cause, and struggle that it should be the most basic of all drives, that you would strive to protect and love one another, yet this bond that should be the big no-brainer was in fact the hardest thing.

I started publishing stories in small magazines early on, but after seven or eight or nine years you feel like you need a little more than that to show for your efforts.

Somewhere along the way America became a giant mall with a country attached.

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