The fact that somebody's telling you a story about people who didn't exist doesn't make the experience of the story any less real in your heart and mind.

I don't celebrate milestones and I don't do anniversary editions. It's not my style to reflect on accomplishments.

The studio's a collaborative environment. I just try to let people bring their own ideas to the songs and see what happens.

The reality of having a kid involves day-to-day practicality - not broader philosophical outlooks.

In wrestling, people just throw each other around, possibly actually bleed, and are still friends in the locker room afterwards. But there's a real glee - a feeling goes up in the arena, especially on non-TV days. If it's just people in a room and somebody starts to bleed, that's very exciting.

I'm finding things out about myself as a person - as a writer - as I write, and so are the people who listen to what I do. But they have this additional aspect of how they take the stuff that I do, and so it broadens the work and it creates this strange connection. It's really a way of strangers communicating through this third thing, which is a body of work. But really, I know it's a cliché to say I write for myself, but I write for myself.

Literature is a mystical place for me. It's not dry. It's where miracles happen.