That's what the American odyssey is really about: Leaving home. Leaving home and coming home, and trying to understand the difference.

Mine is not a story to tell struggling writers.

Professor Al Drake encouraged me to just write the way I talk. I decided if that's what I needed to do, I didn't need to be in school to do it.

People feel vulnerable when they travel. Nobody wants to be taken advantage of or talked into something they don't want. Staying at Motel 6 makes you feel smarter. In fact, I think it actually means you are smarter, but I have no hard data to support that.

The difference between an optimist and a pessimist? An optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist forgets to laugh.

Americans are generally very self-sufficient and I think generally averse to pretension, just as I am.

For some people, you know, Garrison Keillor, Rush Limbaugh, really the stars, they've got a passion. They eat, drink and breathe radio, and I'm not like that. I used to think I wanted to be. But I need to be away from it, too, and that's the difference, I think.