I need - and occasionally love - to write for the same reasons I always did: hard as writing is, it's generally easier than life.

I don't really know how to do much else besides write.

I always tell myself, when I remember the non-stop self-generated hell party that used to be my life, I wouldn't be here if I didn't go there.

My own theory is that people are just so desperate for somebody they can feel better than, in America. Now that everyone's going broke and working 17 jobs - if they have one at all - at least they can look at these guys behind bars and think, "At least I get to wear my own clothes to work."

The art and act of writing - speaking just for myself - involves getting your proverbial ass in the proverbial chair.

Junkies are liars. They have to be professionally.

If you're an asshole, you have an excuse for being an asshole because you're a junkie. But then once you give up the drugs, and you're still an asshole, that's problematic.