The first seven years that I wrote fiction, I sent out stories and a novel and made a total of $25.

Maybe it's ALWAYS the end of the world. Maybe you're alive for a while, and then you realize you're going to die, and that's such an insane thing to comprehend, you look around for answers and the only answer is that the world must die with you.

You take something from your past that you're somewhat ashamed about and you write about it from another character's point of view.

Stories are people. I'm a story, you're a story ... your father is a story. Our stories go in every direction, but sometimes, if we're lucky, our stories join into one, and for a while, we're less alone.

You have to do disappointment twice.

He considered it a shame when people couldn't grasp the infinite-a failure not just of imagination but of simple vision.

If you come from money and you become an addict, you go to the Betty Ford Clinic, you get treatment. If you're living on the street and you're an addict, it's much harder to find your way out.