In the army you feel violated - there's no private space. Writing was a life-saver, a way of recovering private territory.

When I was a kid, I wanted to make my parents happy. I'd always say to them, "What do you want me to do? Do sports? Be rich? Be funny?" My mother would say, "Whatever we want from you, you already gave us - we wanted you to be alive, and you made it."

In the last war, people became vocal from the right-wing point of view: if you're liberal, then you're a traitor.

It's funny, but I think my stories - the good ones - they're much smarter than I am.

If you want to learn how to be happy, you have to know what is sadness first.

There were lots of lies along the way in life. Lies without arms, lies that were ill, lies that did harm, lies that could kill. Lies on foot, or behind the wheel, black-tie lies, and lies that could steal.

My first and biggest love was always fiction writing. But it is a very lonely pastime.