All men contain several men inside them, and most of us bounce from one self to another without ever knowing who we are.

Stories happen only to those who are able to tell them, someone once said. In the same way, perhaps, experiences present themselves only to those who are able to have them.

I thought, "Well, I'm writing about early childhood, so maybe it would make sense to write about late childhood as well, early adulthood." Those were my thoughts, and this was how this crazy book [Winter Journal] was composed. I've never seen a book with pictures like at the end, pictures related to things you've read before.

To leave the world a little better than you found it. That's the best a man can ever do.

Writing has always had a tactile quality for me. It's a physical experience.

I use things, I steal things from my life when I want to, when I need to, or when it seems appropriate. But most of the stuff in my novels is entirely invented, ninety-five percent. And even when I do borrow something, it becomes fictionalized.

I walk around the world like a ghost, and sometimes I question whether I even exist. Whether I've ever existed at all.