Oh we'll know each other forever, Bix says. The days of losing touch are almost gone.

Stu walked Bennie over to Chris in the chair and parted his hair to reveal some tan little creatures the size of poppy seeds moving around on his scalp. Bennie felt himself grow faint.'Lice' the barber whispered.'They get it at school'. 'But he goes to private school' Bernie had blurted.'In Crandale,New York!

I've never been that confident. I don't tend to think, swaggeringly, I'm going to ace this. It's just not who I am.

There's something very strange about associating me with that prize. I had hoped for it in a more directed way as a journalist. Somehow as a journalist you know there are Pulitzers out there and you can work hard and get one. To win it for Fiction seems unbelievable.

...water laughing softly down a black stone wall.

Rich children are always blond, Jocelyn goes. It has to do with vitamins.

Read at the level at which you want to write. Reading is the nourishment that feeds the kind of writing you want to do.