I'm trying to write stories that are interesting and enjoyable.

I've always liked the classic "young adult" writers like Mark Twain, Jack London, Roald Dahl, Charles Dickens. They write so clearly, and they know how to entertain.

I'm not very disciplined. I tend to write late at night because I get distracted during the day.

I'm just a dog person. I love dogs very much, especially big ones, hounds, and retrievers. I think they are funny and often have good senses of humor. Plus, they give unconditional love.

I have two dogs myself and they are always around when I write, so they tend to creep in there.

I like people who lead unusual lives, and very often a person with a disability fits into that category.

I wanted to do a collection where the narrator is constant throughout, so that there's a little unity.

I want the situations and plots to be surprising and unusual.

I know that some of the things which happen in these stories are not likely, but sometimes I wonder if they are not possible in some way.

I've found that I seek out oddballs; I like strange and eccentric people a lot.

Sometimes the autobiographical link in each story is very literal, like I did work at The Texas School for the Blind, and I did once lose a mattress out of the back of a friend's truck.

There was warmth in his large piercing brown eyes. The kind of warmth that tucks a child into bed. The same kind of warmth that dries your wet hair on a rainy December afternoon.

I think people like feeling miserable just as much as they like feeling happy.

From 16 to 26, no one really knows what they want to do for the rest of their life at that age. Latin's not f - ing one of them.

There is no spark like the one ignited under the aspirations of a new graduate.

You have to believe what you say, and if you believe what you are saying, then acting is easy.

Your mouth smells like my jock strap.

I know that the whole point—the only point—is to find the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse to let them go.

Thinking based on who deserves what blocks compassionate communication.

If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.

At the end of the day, the question to ask yourself is this: do your expenses, big and small, bring you the thrill they once did?