I have a second-degree black belt in Okinawan kobudo weapons training.

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.

After a year, it was great to get out of L.A. and return to Hyde Park. Since my grandparents lived in Hyde Park, I had been coming there since I was a tyke.

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'm not much interested in my own self when I write. I'm interested in what I observe out there, what's going on around me.

I enjoy shooting. Around where I live, it's something you do for entertainment once in a while, you go out and shoot targets.

Time is never wasted coming to an old man bar.