I wasn't writing stories with the intention of creating a particular collection. I simply wrote stories, and then discovered common themes among a good number of them.

The truth is I tried to write for years and I wasn't very good.

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

Where I live you're not supposed to shoot a firearm within a quarter mile of a dwelling.

I can't personally drink or fight too much nowadays because I have to be perky in the morning in order to write.

I think back when I was kind of a crappy writer, I really did know my time was better spent working and having adventures and seeing the world.

I mostly write about the working poor. Somehow, they're not being written about much anymore. I'm very interested in people who are in a situation that needs a little puzzling out. The thing that gets me started on a story is a person in a tough situation.