I never take any notes or draw charts or make elaborate diagrams, but I hold an image of the shape of a book in my head and work from that mental hologram.

What age is a black boy when he learns he's scary?

To the resentment that hides inside love, to the loneliness that hides among companions.

Listen to me. I’m shy. I’m not stupid. I can’t meet people’s eyes. I don’t know if you understand what that’s like. There’s a whole world going on around me, I’m aware of that. It’s not because I don’t want to look at you, Lucinda. It’s that I don’t want to be seen.

I listen to music all the time. I write while listening to music. And I tell myself that the music nourishes the art forms that I do master and domesticate, and have authority over.

what exactly is postmodernism, except modernism without the anxiety?

Writing is physical for me. I always have the sense that the words are coming out of my body, not just my mind.