They had nothing to say to each other. A five-year age gap between siblings is like a garden that needs constant attention. Even three months apart allows the weeds to grow up between you.

Writing is my way of expressing - and thereby eliminating - all the various ways we can be wrong-headed.

Rarely does one see a squirrel tremble.

I never attended a creative writing class in my life. I have a horror of them.

I have a natural tendency to feel well about the world, I suppose, one way or another. But then there is the problem of pain. There are things like [Abraham] Lincoln's beloved little boy dying.

I love to dance, and sing - in the shower, not in public. Im too old to go raving, but my fondest memories are of that kind of thing - dancing, with lots of people, outside if possible.

It was a kiss from the past.