That was always my inclination, to start on a new play before the other one gets done, because at least you'll have something to go back to if that play gets trashed.

That's what I like about [smoking] . . . taking a drag off of death, Mmm! Gives me a sense of controlling my own destiny. What power! What exhilaration! Want a drag?

The next thing I wrote was in a writing class at night school. It was about a poor woman who worked at a dime store and who was all alone for Christmas in Laurel, Mississippi.

But when I got to SMU and decided to take a playwriting class, I said this isn't a bad idea. IfI write characters, they could be as dumb as me, and I don't have to be very smart.

Part of that is that New York has proved to be too much fun for me to live and work; I love New York so much.

What I loved about the acting class was that you got to think all day long about a person that wasn't you, and figure out why they were sad and what they wanted, what they dreamed.

I tried to start a theatre in LA and failed miserably, but I was probably not meant to raise money.