The idea for each of the stories in this book came in a moment of belief and was written in a burst of faith, happiness, and optimism. Those positive feelings have their dark analogues, however, and the fear of failure is a long way from the worst of them. The worst - for me, at least - is the gnawing speculation that I may have already said everything that I have to say, and am now only listening to the steady quacking of my own voice because the silence when it stops is just too spooky.

I always drank, from when it was legal for me to drink. And there was never a time for me when the goal wasn't to get as hammered as I could possibly afford to. I never understood social drinking, that's always seemed to me like kissing your sister.

Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right — as right as you can, anyway — it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it.

I win, you win. You win, I win. The gun, I win. The fruit, you win. I win, you win.

Sometimes the only thing to do is to take the thing that you must have. Even if someone gets hurt.

I write about rats because they scare the hell out of me. I think we tend to write out our phobias.

I watched Titanic when I got back home from the hospital, and cried. I knew that my IQ had been damaged.