I'd say the music influences the writing - the music and rhythm of the prose - much more than the writing influences the music.

It took me seven years of writing before I published my first story. And then, the publications trickled in over the next five years.

I think the act of lying can be separated from the genre of memoir. Though often times, people are unaware of their own subjectivity.

My teaching career started with me teaching comp at a very small school in Buffalo. And I was terrible at that point. They never should have hired me.

A lot of my students have been quite notable. Notable in both the personal sense - people who have changed my life - and notable in that many have gone on to enormous success in their writing careers. Whether or not I had a lot to do with those success stories, I'm very proud and happy for my former students getting on the map.

One of the things I love most about second person is that it reminds the reader that they are reading a text. It doesn't allow them to drift into the story and not notice that they are reading a book - a book that has an author.

I have an MFA in writing. It is debatable if they are right for everyone, but I had a mentor who really changed my life, so it worked for me.