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I started earning a living as a poet rather early on.

I think of myself as a journalist and a storyteller.

I started out as a poet. I've always been a poet since I was 7 or 8. And so I feel myself to be fundamentally a poet who got into writing novels.

I started out as a writer. Poetry and prose and also kind of satirical David Sedaris-esque stuff.

Before I began concentrating on writing, in my free time I was an artist, making and selling etchings illustrating stories based on my readings in classical literature.

I was a political journalist; I came to writing novels through an interest in politics and power.

I'm a journalist and author. I make my living by finding things out and writing about them.

I began my writing career in a very isolated place and time.

I'm a poet, and I spent my life in poetry.

My first real writing job was at 'Rolling Stone,' so I wrote about rock-and-roll and politics and the like. At the time, I really didn't know what I wanted to write, and I did a bunch of investigative journalism.