I think for a long time, I was paralyzed by some of my hopes and ideals for what my life was going to be like. I had this perfect vision of how my life should go, but it seemed - it was - impossible to realize, so I sat around for a long, long time doing almost nothing at all.

You didn’t get the quest you wanted, you got the one you could do.

I recognize that on paper, you can't really tell that I'm a fan or a nerd.

His whole personality was like an elaborate joke that he never stopped telling.

I studied the cello for a long time, from when I was little up through college.

I came from an anxious, overly intense East Coast academic family. That was the way of our tribe.

The novel is a highly corrupt medium, after all - in the end the vast majority of them simply aren't that great, and are destined to be forgotten.