I've written a lot of books in my time, and to write a book about Joe McCarthy and have some of the major media paying attention, I'm not used to that.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm not a media darling. I'm not on the cover of all these magazines. I just quietly do my thing.
I was never a good journalist, because I would make things up. A lot of people frowned on that, which is why I ended up in fiction.
I'm a huge Cormac McCarthy fan and have read every book of his.
I don't read newspapers, and I've said I don't watch the news. I love books, but I don't read much. What I do is I get people to read to me, and I put the stories in my head.
I don't really read a lot of newspapers. I don't pay attention to what is being said or written about me. I've had lots of experiences in the past when I got too much into it. That sort of diverts your focus.
I read the newspapers avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.
As a writer, you have to be near people and hear stuff. I'm a hamburger and cheese kind of fellow; I'm not Henry David Thoreau.
Many fiction writers write for the critics or for themselves; they forget the common reader. I never do. I don't think journalism clashes with my fiction; on the contrary, it helps enormously.
Every book I write, the media just keeps punching me in the face.
It's just that what's important there is different there than what's important is here. Here, people care that you wrote a book or that you work in the media.