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I've never written a book with the intention of winning someone back or getting back at someone or anything like that. It's always just been about thinking about life and how relationships fit in to what life means.

When a book goes well, it abandons me. I am the most abandoned writer in the world.

People are looking for inspiration, and my books are sometimes the vehicles of what people are looking for.

I really appreciate what it takes to create a book. I understand the loneliness that it involves and the excitement and the vulnerability: I especially identify with that.

When I'm writing, I am lost in my book. Except family and close friends, I don't care about what critics, publishers or readers might think.

I never feel lonely if I've got a book - they're like old friends. Even if you're not reading them over and over again, you know they are there. And they're part of your history. They sort of tell a story about your journey through life.

Listen, I wrote 10 unsuccessful books before I broke through, so I'm looking all the time to keep my books fascinating. I want to write what people want to read, not push any message.

I always want my books to reach a positive point in the end.

Like many readers, I am continually in search of books that allow me to lose myself in an entirely unique universe.

At first blush, it seems odd that loser lit books are rejected initially, then go on to be fiercely loved by legions of readers. This apparent contradiction might be due to the fact that if they didn't screw up their lives, most losers would be the kind of power-elite, Type A go-getters whom readers love to hate.