I take literature as a really serious human activity. It's not just a playful thing. It can be hilarious and wonderful and performative, but I think it's really serious.

The absence of plot leaves the reader room to think about other things.

Momentum, in literary mosaic, derives not from narrative but from the subtle, progressive buildup of thematic resonances.

I'm wonderfully self-lacerating, probably to my character's detriment. I'm terribly open to critique.

Nonfiction, qua label, is nothing more or less than a very flexible (easily breakable) frame that allows you to pull the thing away from narrative and toward contemplation, which is all I've ever wanted.

With relatively few exceptions, the novel sacrifices too much, for me, on the altar of plot.

In my own little way, I feel like I'm part of a group of writers who care deeply about pushing the essay forward.