In the occult, good manners matter, as they do in life, and perhaps even more so. - Alexander Chee

Writing fiction is an exercise in giving a shit — an exercise in finding out what you really care about.

Mixed feelings were confusing feelings, and I didn’t feel confused except as to why it was so hard for everyone to understand that I existed. Living this way felt like discovering your shoe was nailed to the floor, but only one of them, so that you paced, always, a circle of possibility, defined by the limited imaginations of others.

A GOOD PLACE TO begin a garden is to undo whatever appear to be the clear mistakes of previous owners.