I'm not afraid of just cranking it out and seeing what comes out of my subconscious. Because I don't always know what I'm feeling. I do a lot of rewriting later. But that first blast feels like a spigot - like it's coming from somewhere else.

New York was the Promised Land growing up. Writers were gods! The great gods of American culture... I thought.

The ridiculous way that workplace politics are conducted completely gets in the way of excellence in America.

Sometimes I feel that my job on earth is to put Julie White through horrible things, watch her writhe and then recover.

I often joke that I straddle psychosis and neurosis, and that being an artist keeps me in the middle, so I can work between the two.

My mother's death was very painful as it occurred over a period of a week. Watching her die was the hardest thing my dad ever went through.

The hate and scorn showered on us Negro officers by our fellow Americans convinced me that there was no sense in my dying for a world ruled by them. I made up my mind that if I got through this war I would study law and use my time fighting for men who could not strike back.

There is nothing incompatible about laughter and demons, nor about athletic achievement and depression. Mike Flanagan made me laugh, too. But mostly, he made me brave.