Nineteen is as alive as 40-plus. I can vividly remember 19 and how I saw the world.

Remember it all, every insult, every tear. Tattoo it on the inside of your mind. In life, knowledge of poisons is essential. I've told you, nobody becomes an artist unless they have to.

My father was an engineer - he wasn't literary, not a writer or a journalist, but he was one of the world's great readers.

As a person with terrible handwriting, I love the computer. I've waited all my life for the computer.

I tried writing fiction as a little kid, but had a teacher humiliate me, so didn't write again until I was a senior in college.

I write every day, including weekends. For writers, there are no weekends. It's just that your family is around, looking mournful, wondering when you're going to pay attention to them.