My writing model is my mother, who is a writer as well. She always valued clarity and simplicity above all else. If someone doesn't understand what you're writing, then everything else you do is superfluous. Irrelevant. If any thoughtful, curious reader finds what I do impenetrable, I've failed.

Science fiction annoyed me because it was like, "Why is the world as it is not enough for you?"

Poverty is not deprivation, it is isolation.

Track is full of the absolute nicest and most polite athletes in all of sports, and where does it get us?

I don't like things that aren't true.

As a writer, I know that - you write a first draft and then put it in a drawer. The longer I can put it in a drawer, the better off I am. So I structure my writing so that things can sit.

You can learn as much - or more - from one glance at a private space as you can from hours of exposure to a public face.