The first book I could call mine, my first book, was a picture book, The Magic Monkey - it was adapted from an old Chinese legend by a thirteen-year-old prodigy named Plato Chan with the help of his sister.

There are many ways to drown, only the most obvious wave their arms as they're going under.

Alcohol is the river we sit on the banks of, contemplating. Sometimes we watch ourselves float past, sometimes we watch ourselves sink.

Who doesn't want to just disappear, at some point in the day, in a year, to just step off the map and float?

That soldiers do terrible things during wartime should not surprise us.

In life you get one take, and it's perfect. It's strange, afterwards you might think I shouldn't have reacted that way, but that's the way you reacted. That's your take; that's all you get.

Read as much as you can. Write only when you feel the inner need to do so. And don’t ever rush into print.