That's the day's business. Thinking. Thinking and isolation, because it doesn't matter if you pass the time of day with someone or not; in the end, you're alone. He seemed to have put in as many miles in his brain as he had with his feet. The thoughts kept coming and there was no way to deny them.

I do believe that when we're in the process of dying, that all these emergency circuits in the brain take over. I base what I'm saying not on any empirical evidence. I think it's very possible that when you're dying, these circuits open up, which would explain this whole white-light phenomena - when people clinically die and they see their relatives and stuff and say, "Hello, it's great to see you."

The family exists for many reasons, but its most basic function may be to draw together after a member dies.

I had a period where I thought I might not be good enough to publish.

Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different.

Your first impulse is to share good news, your second is to club someone with it.

The act of writing itself is done in secret, like masturbation.