The jocks that used to stuff me into a locker when I was a punk rocker are my best buddies now.

Limited points of view let the writer dispense - and the reader gather - information from various corners of the story. It all becomes a kind of dance, with the writer guiding the reader through the various twists and turns. The challenge is keeping readers in step, while still managing to surprise.

I really believe in challenging myself, pushing myself to new places.

People really do change. Don't let anyone tell you differently. That the future does not conform to the past is not the exception, but the rule.

We are born haunted, he said, his voice weak, but still clear. Haunted by our fathers and mothers and daughters, and by people we don't remember. We are haunted by otherness, by the path not taken, by the life unlived. We are haunted by the changing winds and the ebbing tides of history. And even as our own flame burns brightest, we are haunted by the embers of the first dying fire. But mostly, said Lord Jim, we are haunted by ourselves.

As a result of manifest destiny, we gutted our resources.

I know I've lost my mind. But I'm not concerned, because it's the first thing I've lost in a long time that actually feels good.