"I think this approach I have to biography, to let the reader see for him or herself what to make of this man, means that I have tended to write rather long books which tell the story in the most immediate way and let the reader think about it. Maybe I could shorten it if I used analysis."
"the ability to publish on the internet is exactly the same as having a printing press in your garage...true freedom of the press can be maintained so long as the integrity of the internet remains"
"Latinos are marginal, politically, intellectually. Jennifer Lopez might be at the absolute center of the mainstream of pop culture in commercial terms. But in terms of political discourse or economic strength for that matter, Latinos are clearly on the margins."
"I live with a real writer. A real writer is someone for whom it is much, much more natural and doesn't have to work at it nearly as much. And certainly someone who is much better read than I am."
"People who make up their own system seem to me the ones that are most admirable. I really want to believe whatever mythology I put together for myself aesthetically, ethically and personally will see me through to my death. If it can't do that, then I've been barking up the wrong tree all along."
"The idea is that you love the character that you are following and that you have affection for that character and that you trust the narrator."
"To me the plot is really, really important. I don't accept the premise that if it's written in a really great way, then anything is interesting."
"You really can't throw a rock in North Carolina without hitting a good writer."
Every year at Christmas time my mother asks the family the same question. "What is your most memorable Christmas gift?" My father recalls a bicycle that he received when he was in his pre-teen years. He was somewhat displeased at the time, since this present was his sole Christmas gift and his other siblings seemed …
At the all-knowing age of 13, I developed a purely hormonal crush on a neighbor girl who I admired from afar. Completely infatuated, my thoughts were plagued with trembling scenarios of what I would do once I earned enough money from my paper route (which paid only slightly more than the average Ugandan Day Laborer's …
