To me that really would be the essence of kindness, to have one's awareness so developed and refined that you could tell just what was needed, and not do any more or any less, and maybe not even be aware of what you had done, except it would be a helpful thing because of how fully present you were. Well, as Aerosmith once famously said: Dream on.

I'm a control freak. I'm defensive. And I'm an egomaniac. That's true about me.

Realism is to fiction what gravity is to walking: a confinement that allows dancing under the right circumstances.

When I write I know that I'm going to have to produce 40 percent more than I need.

I don't use the word lightly, in fact, I don't use it at all, but Ben Marcus is a genius, one of the most daring, funny, morally engaged and brilliant writers, someone whose work truly makes a difference in the world. His prose is, for me, awareness objectified-he makes the word new and thus the world.

The chances of a person breaking through their own habits and sloth and limited mind to actually write something that gets out there and matters to people are slim.

I've always wanted to write energetic, atypical sentences, i.e., sentences that were not normal or bland.