Usually when people say they have mixed feelings about something, it's a sort of euphemistic way of saying they hate it.

One of the weird things about L.A. is that there's always a set of negative perceptions that attaches itself to this city.

Even though I think writers can sometimes thrive from being misread. It can give them something to push off of.

It's hard to imagine there's a place for great writing inside a multinational conglomerate.

You look at the absolute scorn that gets poured on a fallen celebrity, whether it's Tom Cruise or Lindsay Lohan or Marlon Brando, or Elvis when he got fat. They're not allowed the dignity of ordinary failure. And I think that plays into people's notions about Los Angeles, too. It's not allowed to be a regular city with problems.

I've always found too that somewhere in whatever you've just written lies the seed of what you're going to write next.

I think being central to the culture is overrated. Who really gives a damn if something is popular? Jay-Z isn't actually any better than James Joyce even though more people understand him.