Writing is my obsession my passion. My relationship with it is one of the most complex and agonizing and richly vexing that I have in my life.

When I was confronted with official tuition the academic thing I could see no relationship whatever between that and the music I'd been writing since I was 11.

When writing comedy you have to have the confidence to believe that there is only one type of relationship in the world and we are all having it that all men behave in the same way and so do all women.

People don't really have a relationship with great writing or great production or great art direction or great direction. They just sort of admire it.

What I do believe is that there is always a relationship between writing and reading a constant interplay between the writer on the one hand and the reader on the other.

For me writing is a love-hate relationship.

Most critical writing is drivel and half of it is dishonest. It is a short cut to oblivion anyway. Thinking in terms of ideas destroys the power to think in terms of emotions and sensations.

'Thank you power' is writing down the moments that are good in your life so that you can go back and reflect on them - so you've got this sort of repository of good stuff in your past.

I was totally absorbed in the real world the politics the history the news and I just couldn't find my way into the fictional world... When I finally could return to writing the novel it was in fits and starts.

I first came to think about media and politics in the late 1960s having observed some distortions up close but since then I wouldn't say that my personal experience has remained an important motive for my writing about media.

I'm not taking any interest in politics. I'm not involved in politics in any way. My life is in writing now.

I cry sometimes because I'm not 20 years younger and I'm not healthy. But if I were I would even sacrifice my writing to enter politics.

I've been leading newsrooms for a while now and it's been an honor serving as Editor in Chief of N.J. but I really think that my best shot at moving the needle in politics is by getting close to it - by reading reporting tweeting and writing.

And you don't want to always write about politics just for the sake of writing about politics.

I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting.

I was kind of an outcast in school 'cause I always kept to myself and was writing poetry and then going on tour with my brother band all the time so kids didn't know what to make of me.

Well - I started writing - probably in the early 60s and by say '65-'66 I had read most of the poetry that had been published - certainly in the 20 years prior to that.