All of us are subjected to somebody else's power at some point. So once in a while you kiss ass. So what? Either you make your peace with that early, or you end up living your life as a crank and a misfit.

I started writing seriously when I was 18, wrote my first novel when I was 22, and I've never stopped writing since.

There was an author who titled his books by days of the weeks and another one that used colors. Then there was Edward Gorey who wrote the book The Gashlycrumb Tinies, about the untimely death of 26 Victorian children, each representing a letter of the alphabet. I thought what a great way to link the titles.

People in California seem to age at a different rate than the rest of the country. Maybe it's the passion for diet and exercise, maybe the popularity of cosmetic surgery. Or maybe we're afflicted with such a horror of aging that we've halted the process psychically.

Sometimes I claim I write because I put in an application at Sears and they've never called back.

If you're unhappy, change something.

My notion of an elegant table is you don't leave the knife sticking out of the mayonnaise jar.