Most novelists I know went through a period of intense self-examination and self-loathing after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I certainly did.

He insisted on a single trade secret: that you had to survive, find some quiet, and work hard every day.

I like the fact that I'm living in the world rather than in a university.

My former wife is a very eccentric woman, which is why I still love her.

I envy those writers who outline their novels, who know where they're going. But I find writing is a process of discovery.

Add anchovies to almost anything, in moderation, and it will taste better.

If it's red, French, costs too much, and tastes like the water that's left in the vase after the flowers have died and rotted, it's probably Burgundy.