Novel Writing Is Solitary Work.

We Keep The Negative Stuff Because It's The Negative Stuff That's Going To, You Know, Potentially Kill Us. That Fin In The Water - Maybe It Is A Shark. That Yellow Thing Behind The Tree - Maybe It Is A Lion. You Need To Be Scared.

I Think I've Always Been Drawn To The Second Person. When I Was Growing Up And Playing With My Friends, The Usual Way We Interacted With Imaginary Worlds Was As Characters: A Bench Was 'your' Boat, Leaves On A Lawn Were The Fins Of Sharks Out To Get 'you.'

The World Seems Concerned With Pakistan Primarily As An Actor In Global Attempts To Combat Terrorism.

A Beard Is Something That Is Almost Like A Mirror To The Viewer. When Someone Sees You Wearing A Beard, They're Seeing Something In Their Own Imagination Because It's Still Me Whether I'm Bearded Or Not.

In A World Of Intrusive Technology, We Must Engage In A Kind Of Struggle If We Wish To Sustain Moments Of Solitude. E-reading Opens The Door To Distraction. It Invites Connectivity And Clicking And Purchasing. The Closed Network Of A Printed Book, On The Other Hand, Seems To Offer Greater Serenity. It Harks Back To A Pre-jacked-in Age. Cloth, Paper, Ink: For These Read Helmet, Cuirass, Shield. They Afford A Degree Of Protection And Make Possible A Less Intermediated, Less Fractured Experience. They Guard Our Aloneness. That Is Why I Love Them, And Why I Read Printed Books Still.