Writing is physical for me. I always have the sense that the words are coming out of my body, not just my mind.

I try not to become too regular an addict of any one subculture.

I never take any notes or draw charts or make elaborate diagrams, but I hold an image of the shape of a book in my head and work from that mental hologram.

I've never related to the work geek at all-it sounds much more horrible than nerd. Like a freak biting a chicken's head off in a sideshow.

I learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction - by skipping the parts that bored me.

Someday I would change my name to Shut Up and save everybody a lot of time.

I work on a laptop specifically so I can work in cafes and pretend I'm part of the human world.

What age is a black boy when he learns he's scary?

It was only as I wrote about fear that I began to find paths of access to feelings that were intolerable to me then.

I want what we all want," said Carl. "To move certain parts of the interior of myself into the exterior world, to see if they can be embraced.

I can't bear the silent ringing in my skull.

The world was not just moving. It was alive. And it was ready to fight.

Reading is an act of resistance. Against what? Against all constraints.

Regard ye the world as a man's body, which is afflicted with diverse ailments, and the recovery of which dependeth upon the harmonizing of all its component elements.

Real art is illumination, it adds stature to life.

Its really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs.

I consider writing practice a true Zen practice because it all comes back at you. You can't fool anyone because it's on the page.

I like to think that I'm not old yet.

It's natural for any actor that segues into directing to be an actor's director. You know how to relate to the actors.

Film is not a form, it has forms

We who are of mature age seldom suspect how unmercifully and yet with what insight the very young judge us.