My Grandfather And I Were Very Close.

The Dead Are Celebrated. The Dead Are Loved. They Give Something To The Living. Once You Put Something Into The Ground, Doctor, You Always Know Where To Find It.

When I Hit A Block, Regardless Of What I Am Writing, What The Subject Matter Is, Or What's Going On In The Plot, I Go Back And I Read Pablo Neruda's Poetry. I Don't Actually Speak Spanish, So I Read It Translation. But I Always Go Back To Neruda. I Don't Know Why, But It Calms Me, Calms My Brain.

My Grandfather And I Were Very Close.

When I Was Eight Years Old, I Wrote A Paragraph-long Short Story About A Goat On My Mother's Hundred-pound, Black-and-white-screen Laptop. The Story Came About Largely Because I Liked The Way The Word 'goat' Looked On The Page, But I Decided Then And There That I Wanted To Be A Writer. That Desire Never Changed.

Being Taken Seriously, For A Young Writer, Is A Wonderful Form Of Encouragement, But At The Same Time, I Don't Think One Should Ever Feel Like Attempting A Kind Of Artistic Endeavor Is Beyond Your Scope Just Because Of Age Or Inexperience.