Writing is so wrapped up in ego, but with math one is just trying to get it right, although you're often wrong. I think math helped me become a good critic of myself, come at writing a little less personally.

I didn't actually figure out how to get guidance, so I just decided to go to school at University of Southern California because they sent me a glossy brochure.

I loved writing for the school newspaper. I liked to report and interview people, but I really liked to write columns, funny columns.

A mathematical proof is beautiful, but when you're finished, it's really only about one thing. A story can be about many things.

I think by writing about a place with great specificity, you manage to make it universal.

I'm of the people in the bar and the people in my stories. They are my tribe.

People seem to want to read more nonfiction than fiction.