"Is the Mona Lisa an 'accurate' representation of the actual human model for the painting? Who knows?..." — Tim O'Brien

Above all, a well-imagined story is organized around extraordinary human behaviors and unexpected and startling events, which help illuminate the commonplace and the ordinary.

I live in my head all day long and the world is a little dreamy.

It's very hard to articulate the things that are important about writing.

Life is never all one thing. It bounces around. Certainly, my own life has.