Those wounds stay with you, and you turn them into a language and a purpose.

I cut my bow from the wood of this tree of evil. Of this tree of good, I want a kiss from your lips.

Because we lived in the presence of the church and the convent and the rectory and the school 24-7. And this was an enormous cornerstone in the lives of my entire family. They were all pretty serious Catholic churchgoers.

Success makes life easier. It doesn't make living easier.

Madman drummers, bummers, Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat. In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat.

Once you get into the book, you've got to constantly find your - the rhythm of your prose. And it ends up being quite a musical experience either way.

I think you can't demonize somebody that's on the other side of the political spectrum, or you can't generalize about them.