I came to Houston for a job, the reason most people move halfway across the country with a first grader and a five-week-old. I came here to teach at Rice.

When you write, you take the ball and you hold it up to the light and you turn it slowly, and let people draw their own conclusions. And try to bring empathy to all sides of the equation.

My theory of characterization is basically this: Put some dirt on a hero, and put some sunshine on the villain, one brush stroke of beauty on the villain.

The sadness you feel is not your own. It's his sadness you feel in your heart, Amy, for missing you.

We live, we die. Somewhere along the way, if we're lucky, we may find someone to help lighten the load.

Writing is a job: you must show up.

The military was all about hierarchies, who urinated highest on the hydrant