Back in 1992, I had my first story accepted by 'The New Yorker.'

If you could press a button and your ego investment was less, the toothache would be less. Or less tragic at least.

I'm always aware of writing around things I can't do, and I've come to think that that's actually what 'style' is - an avoidance of your deficiencies.

As Flannery O'Connor says, a person can choose what she writes but she can't choose what she makes live. Some people are really acoustic writers and so for them the secret revision is sound. Other people may revise in terms of the way a paragraph feels. There's a million ways to do it.

Irony is just honesty with the volume cranked up.

As one gets older, this question of death, becomes more vexing and urgent.

The traveller must, of course, always be cautious of the overly broad generalisation. But I am an American, and a paucity of data does not stop me from making sweeping, vague, conceptual statements and, if necessary, following these statements up with troops.