I'm not in the service business.

Whatever story you're telling in Louisiana, the landscape is going to become a character in it.

I've found that all weak people share a basic obsession - they fixate on the idea of satisfaction. Anywhere you go men and women are like crows drawn by shiny objects. For some folks, the shiny objects are other people, and you'd be better off developing a drug habit.

I was raised by television. It was my first cultural window. It was a constant companion.

The Atlantic really gave me my writing career - even just the conviction to be a writer.

We live in a culture that has a real hard time distinguishing fiction from reality. Even when they're told something is fiction.

You just do the best you can, and when you're able to connect with people, and when you do, it's just incredibly gratifying.