Goon Squad' Took About Three Years To

The Sky Was Electric Blue Above The Trees But The Yard Felt Dark. Stephanie Went To The Edge Of The Lawn And Sat Her Forehead On Her Knees. The Grass And Soil Were Still Warm From The Day. She Wanted To Cry But She Couldn't. The Feeling Was Too Deep.

And Alex Understood That Scotty Hausmann Did Not Exist. He Was A Word Casing In Human Form: A Shell Whose Essence Has Vanished.

I Don't Think That All Girls Seek The Influence Of Older Men, But I Think Girls Whose Fathers Are Absent Or Recessed From Their Lives Often Do. And Honestly, When I Was Growing Up, Fathers Were Generally Pretty Absent From Their Children's Lives. We Didn't See A Lot Of Them. That May Be Something That Has Genuinely Changed For The Better In Our Culture: Men Are More Present For Their Children Now That More Women Are Working.

I Hope To Keep Writing Journalism As Long As I Write Fiction; It's Afforded Me Such Amazing Adventures And Opportunities. It Does Take A Lot Of Time, So It's Hard To Do Both At Once, But I Try To Do A Big Journalism Piece Every Couple Of Years, And I'll Hopefully Continue With That.

There's A Fine Line Between Thinking About Somebody And Thinking About Not Thinking About Somebody, But I Have The Patience And The Self-control To Walk That Line For Hours - Days, If I Have To.