I haven't had writer's block. I think it's because my process involves writing very badly.

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

That adage about 'Write what you know' is basically the opposite of the way I function. I write about what I'm curious to find out.

I listened to classic rock and roll, and punk rock. 'Goon Squad' provides a pretty accurate playlist of my teenage years, though it leaves out 'The Who,' which was my absolute favorite band.

But I always need to identify with a character to write about him or her - and by "identify," I mean see the world through that person's eyes and have a strong sense of the inner logic of their acts and decisions, wacky or wrongheaded though they might be. In that sense, I think there's some of me in all of them.

Kissing Mother Superior, incompetent, hairball, poppy seeds, on the can.

The problem was precision, perfection; the problem was digitization, which sucked the life out of everything that got smeared through its microscopic mesh.