Being an unpublished novelist has about as much social acceptability as being a shopping bag lady.

A contest was held in 1994 to rename the Los Angeles Convention and Exhibition Center after an extensive renovation and expansion. The winning name, chosen from over ten thousand entries, was the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Leonard asks me if there's anything I need to know before he dies, I think about it for a minute, turn to him, say what's the meaning of life, Leonard? He laughs, says that's an easy one, my son, it's whatever you want it to be.

I hadn't learned yet that everybody's locked up some way or other. That's how life is we're all imprisoned by something.

Sometimes skulls are thick. Sometimes hearts are vacant. Sometimes words don't work.

I try to make the voice in my head come out onto the page. I try to make it much more conversational than other writing. I speak everything, so if something sounds right I write it. It's more about sound and the rhythm of speech than written language.

I can run fast when I want to run fast, and I've always been good at destroying things.