You can't make something beautiful by trying to make something beautiful. Something becomes beautiful in the process of trying to be something else.

Through the years, I have learned there is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration.

The Apple Pie Hubbub was a significant novel for me, because that's when I first started using verbs.

I didn't worry if a bit got no response, as long as I believed it had enough response to linger.

I had loved magic tricks from the time I was six or seven. I bought books on magic. I did magic acts for my parents and their friends. I was aiming for show business from early days, and magic was the poor man's way of getting in: you buy a trick for $2, and you've got an act.

Writing is something I took up rather than anything I had an inclination toward. I like acting -delivering someone else's message - but writing is more of an accomplishment.

I actually learned about sex watching neighborhood dogs. And it was good. Go ahead and laugh. I think the most important thing I learned was: Never let go of the girl's leg, no matter how hard she tries to shake you off.