The point of what I do is that it doesn’t really matter what a book or a story is as long it moves you, informs you, challenges you, entertains you, or changes you.
To say that you can’t see echoes of the past in what I do would be absurd. Everything that has preceded me has affected me.
But all good things come to an end, often a sad angry miserable end. The cause for such an end can usually be whittled down to one of three things: money, sickness, love lost.
All of us started normal. All of us started out as functioning human beings with the potential to do almost anything we wanted, but somewhere along the paths of our lives, we got lost.
I don’t write with an outline. I don’t often know what I’m going to do as I’m writing. And I do everything by feel and by instinct.
Being an unpublished novelist has about as much social acceptability as being a shopping bag lady.
Lying became part of my life. I lied if I needed to lie to get something or get out of something.
I listen to the tick of an unseen clock marking moments of time long passed...
I’ve always said I’m more influenced in what I do by artists, and how they work, how they think, and the freedom they’re given to work and think, than I really am by other writers.
I’m married, I have a couple kids, I’ve traveled a lot, I’ve done book tours a lot, I’m happy to stay home and take my kids to school and come to the office.
I think as an artist or a writer it’s OK to want to control your own work.
I’m just going to write my books and do my work and release it. Let the world decide what it is, and if it’s any good or not.
Most books aren’t pure nonfiction or fiction.
My wife says I’m only comfortable when there’s a fight. And it’s true. The thing that motivates me is struggle.
Sometimes I really want to believe in God. I really admire, in a lot of ways, people who have faith. I think it must be a beautiful thing to believe.
When I started writing ‘A Million Little Pieces,’ I felt like it was the right story with the style I had been looking for, and I just kept going.
When I was a screenwriter, I was doing it for mercenary reasons.
Being a writer now is about so much more than writing. There’s publishing, touring, marketing, web presence.
I am essentially optimistic. Being alive is incredible. Life is extraordinary and beautiful. It can be hard and sad and terrifying, but it’s all we’ve got.
I don’t want to walk in the middle. I want people to read what I write and feel strongly about it. If, at some point, whatever I am doing is failing to elicit a response, whether it’s very positive or very negative, then I am going to stop doing it.