The least trusted testimony in a court of law is eyewitness testimony. We are simply not good reporters of facts that happen to us, or in front of us. But that's not the same as knowingly lying.

I don't teach narrative theory by itself anymore, but I kind of use it when critiquing student manuscripts. So, it works its way in there, whether I like it or not.

The biggest thing was that second person allowed me to trick myself into revealing more about myself. It gave me an authorial distance to get closer to the action and emotions, if that makes sense.

I wasn't doing much work when I was using and drinking. I have friends who did it (work), but I wasn't one of those people.

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.

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