More people thought I was strange because I was a teenage novelist, not because I was from Oklahoma. That's where I got the looks like I was from the zoo.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I could always imagine more interesting places to be than where I was. And more interesting people than me being there. Eventually, this led to making up stories and writing things down.
At one point, I had a story accepted at the 'New Yorker,' which sent off weird bells in people when I told them - 'Oh,' they thought, 'now you are a writer' - where I really had been for the last 30-odd years.
I try so hard not to think that I am a stranger in a strange land. But I know that I stand out.
I went to Norman High then I walked across the street after that and went to college. That's my home town, that's where I'm from. Physically I'm a Texan, but I'm an Oklahoman.
My parents were journalists and friends with writers, artists, and just a really interesting assortment of people, so I was exposed to all lifestyles from a young age.
I'm a contemporary artist with a bit of an unexpected background. I was in my 20s before I ever went to an art museum. I grew up in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road in rural Arkansas, an hour from the nearest movie theater.
I was a strange kid. I'm still strange. People didn't get me. And I didn't expect them to.
I am odd-looking. I sometimes think I look like a funny Muppet.
I'm from Ohio, and I wasn't one of those kids who grew up making movies or whatever, but I always wanted to write. I was probably in high school when I realized the things I was writing weren't books; they were movies, they were visual.
My history writing was based on what I saw in strange, exotic places rather than just reading books.