Creating fake facts does require a measure of haphazard research, insofar as they need to not just be possible, but also interesting.

More people have more access to more readers for less money than ever before in history. It means a lot of dross; but it means a lot of very talented people can find and nurture a readership in ways that were not possible twenty years ago. From a creative perspective, that is all that writing is about.

It's not a secret family like I have a beautiful, gorgeous wife in Tokyo; I have another mom and dad. I'm the kid and I have another mom and dad in Atwater Village, Los Angeles.

I am not an Internet superstar.

What I've discovered more recently is copies of books that I didn't represent, but that my boss represented when I assisted her on the dollar pile. I won't mention any names, but it is this profoundly bittersweet time of realizing, "Oh, I had a wonderful time working on this book and now it is a dollar relic on the side of the road."

I used to enjoy the anonymity of being a literary figure and occasionally a public radio figure.

I say, if you're going to eat a creature alive, you have to expect some screaming. That is the carnivore's burden.