For me, literature is a way of enlarging myself by learning about people who are not like me.

I am very grateful to the electronic world for making my life easier, but there is something about holding a book - the smell and the world of association. Even when e-books are perfected, as they surely will be, it will be like being in bed with a very well-made robot rather than a warm, soft, human being whom you love.

I would like to attribute my range of interests to being an independent intellectual, but although I'm independent, I'm not sure I qualify as an intellectual. Basically, I'm an old-fashioned amateur.

The problem with the literary hothouse of New York City is that people spend so much time looking in the mirror. They go to parties with people who are just like them, and they write novels about people who are just like them. It's limiting.

Traditional models of work only let us cross out the needs on the very bottom of the pyramid - basic sustenance. On the flipside, independent employment within the network of the new sharing economy addresses our needs for a sense of community and belonging, autonomy and respect, creativity and problem solving.

Having a writer in the family is a curse - for the family. I do feel more or less guilty when I'm writing.

Punishing honest mistakes stifles creativity. I want people moving and shaking the earth and they're going to make mistakes.

You can understand nothing about art, particularly modern art, if you do not understand that imagination is a value in itself.