...maybe the world needs a cadre of smartasses to liven things up, who knows?

The object of fiction isn't grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story.... Writing is seduction. Good talk is part of seduction.

I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it's work... Belief and reader absorption come in the details: An overturned tricycle in the gutter of an abandoned neighborhood can stand for everything.

French is the language that turns dirt into romance.

Writing is like sex. The more you think about it, the harder it is to do. It's better not to think about it so much and just let it happen.

I'm still in love with what I do, with the idea of making things up, so hours when I write always feel like very blessed hours to me.