A screenwriter heard me read from my novel 'The Wishbones' when it was still in progress and mentioned me to some producers in Hollywood. They called, and I told them I had a novel in my drawer about a high school election that goes haywire. They asked to take a look, and my life changed pretty dramatically as a result.

I was a garbage man in New Jersey in summers during college at Yale. Everybody else got to go to Switzerland and I got to go to the dump.

There's not some finite amount of pain inside us. Our bodies and minds just keep manufacturing more of it.

A screenwriter heard me read from my novel 'The Wishbones' when it was still in progress and mentioned me to some producers in Hollywood. They called, and I told them I had a novel in my drawer about a high school election that goes haywire. They asked to take a look, and my life changed pretty dramatically as a result.

I used to describe myself as a comic novelist, but my concerns seem to have darkened over the past few years.

It just took some people a little longer than others to realize how few words they needed to get by, how much of life they could negotiate in silence.

I write about kids growing up, I write a lot about schools and parents, and all of my experiences with those things have been suburban experiences.