Great Minds Sink Alike, Right?

I Think, When I'm Writing, I Have A More Clinical View Than I Do When I'm Reading. I Like Pretending To Be God And Basically Determining The Fate Of My Characters. But As A Reader, I'm A Sucker. I'm Very Sentimental. I Get Upset When People That I Like Die. And Yet I Have Killed Off Characters In My Books Quite Heartlessly, And Sometimes Found That Readers Were Very Upset By It.

A Creative Writing Program Is Only As Good As Its Teachers, And I Was Fortunate In Having Two Great Writers As Mentors.

"socialist" Is The Nastiest Thing You Can Say About An American Politician In Some Quarters.

Most Novelists I Know Went Through A Period Of Intense Self-examination And Self-loathing After The Terrorist Attacks On The World Trade Center. I Certainly Did.

I Was Fortunate To Get A Lot Of Mileage Out Of My Vices . . . The Point Is Not To Be Debilitated By Your Pleasures. Maybe I Have Lucky Genes Or Something But I've Never Been Truly Addicted To Anything, Except Pleasure In General.