It is important to find a publisher and equally important not to be noticed until your third or fourth book.
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I said that when I looked at photographs of the firefighters who went into the Twin Towers, their faces looked to me like Irish faces. I hadn't yet learnt how careful outsiders have to be when talking about race in America, and I'd put my foot in it. Someone stood up and said aggressively, 'What do you mean by Irish faces?'
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I think fiction lends itself to messiness rather than the ideal, and plays well with the ironies surrounding what happens versus what should happen.
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I still have a stammer that I can control by not opening a sentence with a hard consonant, or by concentrating for a moment, breathing softly down. Growing up, the 'Our Father' was lovely, made for me, the 'Hail Mary' was gorgeous, and 'Glory Be to the Father' was an absolute nightmare.
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Writing tends to be very deliberate. A novelist could probably run a military campaign with some success. They could certainly run a country.
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All writing is a form of manipulation, of course, but you realize that a plain sentence can actually do so much.
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I suppose one should have an integrated personality, but I've never really seen the point.
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The only routine I have is that I finish everything I start. I wake up early every day - about 6.30 A.M. - but I do not work every day. I could laze for a day or two, but I wouldn't do it for three.
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'One Minus One' and 'Barcelona, 1975' are more or less autobiographical.
