I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings, and I don’t like to knock other writers as a matter of principle.

If you think of something, do it. Plenty of people often think, “I’d like to do this, or that.

My stories are sometimes closer to poems or meditations, but often there is at least a little narrative in them.

The style developed over decades, really, but I started out writing pretty traditional stories, then became impatient. It was a writer named Russell Edson who showed me that one could write in any way at all.

I attempt all day, at work, not to think about what lies ahead, but this costs me so much effort that there is nothing left for my work. I handle telephone calls so badly that after a while the switchboard operator refuses to connect me. So I had better say to myself, Go ahead and polish the silverware beautifully, then lay it out ready on the sideboard and be done with it. Because I polish it in my mind all day long—this is what torments me (and doesn't clean the silver).

I think the close work I do as a translator pays off in my writing - I'm always searching for multiple ways to say things.

Do what you want to do, and don't worry if it's a little odd or doesn't fit the market.