I worked the AV counter at the Roland Heights public library in the '80s. My best story from the library was the time a couple asked for a recommendation, and I recommended Raising Arizona and they absolutely hated it. They came back hungry for blood. I was on my lunch break and my boss came out and said, "Hey kid, you need to come talk to these people. They totally hate Arizona." And he said, "Arizona's a dog; nobody gets that movie."

Our [former] governor [Pat McCrory] was supposed to be a moderate, but he found himself beholden to people who have much more draconian ideas. I think he assumed this stuff flew under the radar.

Good things never last, bad things never die.

At 23, you can completely, literally reinvent yourself if you want to.

Adulthood is interesting to adults. But I would never want to write about stuff I dont feel everybody can connect to.

I grew up around some people whose parents toured a lot: tough on the marriage, tough on the kids.

I was 14 or 15 when I discovered poetry, and I pretty much stopped writing prose until Master of Reality.