Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

'The Sisters Brothers' started out as a little bit of dialogue between these two men who became Eli and Charlie Sisters.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

If you're not riddled with doubt, you've probably done something wrong.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

All of my close friends are emotional train wrecks. This is what makes our lives interesting - constantly doubting ourselves, worrying, wondering if we've made a mistake. Could we have done better? Are we good people? Are we bad people?

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

My interest in words and literature is always changing. And every day of work is different, and it doesn't feel laborious in the way that, say, washing dishes did. I'm quite happy to be doing what I'm doing, and I feel very lucky.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

I don't necessarily want to make people stomp and clap. I simply want to engage people.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

I think of myself as somebody who, in a moment-to-moment way, I'm quite happy. But I think I am a bit doubtful and wary of true happiness, and, like a lot of my friends, there's been a good degree of self-sabotage.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

I know a lot of people who use the Internet really wisely. It enriches their lives in some way.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

I heard somewhere that whenever you write a book, people will ask you One Question about it over and over. And while I'm no expert in these matters, this is proving to be true. My first book dealt with a not-that-pleasant degenerate type, and the One Question was, 'Is this an autobiographical story?'

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

Many's the dead author whose body of work has been marred by overzealous publishers or family members. If this happens to me, I vow to seek out the responsible parties and haunt them to the point of death.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

I am a bit prudish, I think. It's hard for me to write about sex, and I don't really care to read about it, either.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

Bernie Madoff is probably more nuanced then I'm giving him credit for, but I just couldn't get under his skin.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

The question about my Canadianness comes up a lot, and I'm never quite sure what to say about it. I've carved a life out for myself in Oregon, and it feels like home, not because it's the States but because that's where my friends are and where my son is.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

I've been surprised at how much an unknown like myself can accomplish just by reaching out to people and pleading my case. Quotes for the book cover, reviews and interviews, readings and radio appearances - all this by simply moving ahead and making contact with folks I thought might enjoy the writing.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

I'm not an enormous proponent of plot as a reader. It's about other things; my reading has become specialized over the years.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

Unfunny people should be locked up, the key tossed into a smelter.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

Working in a bar was a horrific idea for me.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

I was reading my son some fables; it made for good nighttime reading. These stories were very vivid and very strange and occasionally bizarrely violent. It was a very free landscape.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

I'm never doing anything by rote. I'm only on thin ice, and I think that that's a good place to be. I feel like when you push yourself like that, the rewards can be pretty great.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

I have a paranoia that 'Ablutions' is the best thing I'll ever do.

Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt

Looking around, I saw so many unhappy adults, people who loathed their jobs, and I didn't want to be one of them.