Unfortunately Seattle is my muse, for the better or worse of Seattle - I'm not sure.

I think thats the most important job of a novelist - to bring authority to their writing.

I got a huge knot in my stomach because if Antarctica could talk, it would be saying only one thing: you don't belong here. (277)

We were like the Beatles, Dad.' 'I know you think that, sweetie' 'Seriously. Mom is John, you're Paul, I'm George, and Ice Cream is Ringo.' 'Ice Cream,' I said. 'Resentful of the past, fearful of the future...everytime we saw Ice Cream sitting there with her mouth open, we'd say, Poor Ice Cream, resentful of the past, fearful of the future.

This is why you must love life: one day you're offering up your social security number to the Russian Mafia; two weeks later you're using the word calve as a verb.

I love the camaraderie of a writers' room.

I want find a part of myself that I feel shame about, or that I feel really scared of exposing to the world.