It's hard for me to take myself too seriously when I'm constantly experiencing firsthand what an incredible gimp I can be.

I need you to breathe for me.

There is a difference between something being essential, and it being necessary. If you take your favorite book and strip it down to what is merely essential to tell the story, it would be butchery. The end result would horrify you. Essential is the bones of the story, but the soul lives somewhere else.

My bad luck got tangled up with my bad decisions, and I'm paying for it.

One reason we love fiction is because stories have a comforting shape. They provide a resolution that's lacking in our regular lives.

I grew up reading Tolkien, and I love him. But I love him in the way that you love that rambly old grandfather. You have to sit through some pretty off-topic stuff before he starts telling his cool old war stories.

In my opinion there are two basic questions that any writer tries to answer. "What is?" is the question non-fiction asks. "What if?" is the question fiction asks. That's the question I'm more interested in.