I think at a certain point the book develops a certain weight, or pressure. You've been pushing the rock up the hill for a long time and then it starts to roll and things do start to come together in the last two thirds.

The happiest I have ever been is in the life that I led with my wife and kids.

Fiction is fun because you get to steal an identity and try to make it authentic.

For me, the process of writing a novel happens mostly in your head before you actually start writing.

I would say that all short stories have mystery naturally built into them.

Julie Orringer is the real thing, a breathtaking chronicler of the secrets and cruelties underneath the surface of middle-class American life. These are terrific stories-wise, compassionate and haunting.

Writing short stories was kind of like I was cheating the whole time, in some way. I went back and forth between writing the novels and sort of sneaking out to work on stories occasionally. These stories were written over the last 10 years or so, as I was taking breaks from the novels I've written.