When I First Got Back From The

Really Important Books To Me Are The Classics. I Try Very Hard To Read Them Well - You Know, Especially Once I Got Serious About Writing.

I Mean, If You're Proud Of What You've Done When You've Served In The Military, Well Then We Call That Bragging. And If You Are Unhappy About What Happened, We Call That Complaining. And So What Are You Going To Do?

The Marine Corps Taught Me How To Kill, But It Didn't Teach Me How To Deal With Killing.

When I First Got Back From The War, I Said, 'i'm Gonna Write The Great American Novel About The Vietnam War.' So I Sat Down And Wrote 1,700 Pages Of Sheer Psychotherapy Drivel. It Was First Person, And There Would Be Pages About Wet Socks And Cold Feet.

I Was Given The Ability To Create Stories And Characters. That's My Part Of The Long Chain Of Writers, Publishers, Agents, Booksellers, Librarians, And A Host Of Others Who Eventually Deliver Literature To The World. I Want To Do For Others What Eudora Welty Did For Me.