Having lost people when they were young, you feel intimately acquainted with mortality, I guess. Though I procrastinate worse than anybody.

I can remember exactly where I sat when my teacher first read Roald Dahl's 'James and the Giant Peach'.

It's not that our family has no taste, it's just that our family's taste is inconsistent.

You treat a kid with respect and as an adult you talk to them as if they're smart people. But you don't throw at them the trappings of adulthood and you know, the darker stuff.

Live long enough and you'll disappoint everyone. People think you're able to help them and usually you can't. And so it becomes a process of choosing the one or two people you try hardest not to disappoint. The person in my life I am determined not to disappoint is you.

Write your goddamned book now. The world awaits.

Every time my brain parks the car neatly in the driveway, my mouth drives through the back of the garage.