I write on a laptop, so it's impossible to count drafts anymore.

I was brought up imagining that cream rises to the top, merit wins out, the race is to the swift and riches to men of understanding, but it ain't necessarily so. The swift stand a better chance if they are also beautiful.

Jesus said the meek would inherit the earth, but so far all we've gotten is Minnesota and North Dakota.

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function.

I talk in subjects and verbs, and sort of wind around in concentric circles until I get far enough away from the beginning so that I can call it the end, and it ends.

I love New York, and I'm drawn to a certain intensity of life, but I've just never felt like I want to escape from the Midwest. A writer lives a great deal in his own head, and so one intuitively finds places where your head is more clear. New York for me is one of those places.

Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.