My musical sensibilities were formed around punk rock, that quintessential dilution of an art that's both ugly and lovely at the same time.

In my life the right question is simply this: What can I do to be happy today?

I just thought it was important that people knew right from the jump that I've got problems. But in all seriousness, that's a huge part of my writing process.

Yes, things happened to me - brutal things - but I'm not going to give them so much clout by dwelling on them, empowering them to haunt my heart years after the events transpired. And no good comes from that. These ghosts don't need us to help them stay alive. If we're after real deal healing, these ghosts must desiccate.

I'm a semi-failed writer, but I'm a capital-F Failed musician.

Hughes' debut novel, At Dawn, follows a former All-American wrestler, and is there any better metaphor for contemporary American life? We're all wrestling, tussling with the economy, no jobs, doing the best we can. Hughes doesn't flinch from the tough existential questions. He embraces them.

I used to consider myself to be a cineophile, and then I had a daughter. Ha! Now I barely see any movies.