I am not a politics wonk. I like the idea of my writing reflecting more about who I am or other people.

To what degree are historians chroniclers of the truth and to what degree are they just novelists, frankly?

Sometimes you are lucky enough to get offered things and there is no rhyme or reason.

It's really a lovely feeling to write knowing that failure is taken off the table because if it's bad you just never show it to anyone.

Having a phone call from Steven Spielberg was just a fantastic rite of passage. I loved it, and he was very focused, very likable, strictly business, and really sharp.

There are so many other people involved in the making of a play or a television series or whatever... even if you're a novelist there's so much in just the marketing of a book, or even the time... the zeitgeist, the moment at which it comes out. There's a lot you can't control.

You can only do the best you can in the minute that you're doing it.