I'm all for awkward, frank, sometimes painful conversations about things that give everyone a better perspective on who they are in the here and now, and how they want to proceed from there.

Regarding race or gender or sexuality, one of the great things about art and music is that they can provide people with very little else in common with a similar entry point for discussion, but the discussions still need to happen for life to get more interesting.

When I'm in the mode of feeling positive about love, I don't really feel the need to mark it down in song. In fact, I know what that song would sound like, and I would not subject anybody to that.

My father was a psychiatrist and a social worker but he was a very talented painter and musician and writer on the side.

I had no idea that I could sustain a career as an artist. But, I loved music and wanted to be in the music business.

I think that's what fiction writing is actually all about. It's about trying to solve problems in creative ways.

I received from my experience in Japan an incredible sense of respect for the art of creating, not just the creative product. We're all about the product. To me, the process was also an incredibly important aspect of the total form.

I'm the kind of writer that, once I get into writing mode in my brain, I'm non-stop.