There's Not Some Finite Amount

Because, Really, What Was Worse Than Lying Wide-awake In The Dark, Watching Your Life Drip Away, One Irreplaceable Minute After Another?

Back Then, When Everybody Thought The World Would Last Forever, Nobody Had Time For Anything.

I Was An English Major In College, I Went To A Creative-writing Program, And All My Life, I Really Read And Thought About Fiction As A Craft And An Art Form. I Feel Like I Know A Lot About It, And Can Trust My Instincts.

I Was Writing Very Early, Like I Was Involved In Our High School Literary Magazine, Which Was Called 'pariah.' The Football Team Was The Bears, And The Literary Magazine Was 'pariah.' It Was Great. It Was Definitely A Real Sub-culture. But I Wrote Stories For Them.

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.