I was quite an insomniac. I rarely slept as a child. Having God to talk to at night was nice.

I always thought my father [influenced me most] because he was so well read, I tried to model myself on him, but really as I go through life I realise it was my mother who gave me the most valuable instructions. I didn't understand or accept it at the time. She taught me to read and to pray - two things that have really stayed with me.

I just know that young people suffer, and I also know music is one of the things that help you get through - music and friends.

I hated the soup and felt little for the can.

My parents were very well read. They were both New Englanders, not highly educated, but they had a sophisticated... they were both very humanistic, and they were sophisticated readers.

Writing is not some quiet, closet act.

We wanted, it seemed, what we already had, a lover and a friend to create with, side by side. To be loyal, yet be free.