Growing up, I loved to play. Writing was a natural outtake of play. I realize now, having kids, that maybe that's unusual. Living out in the middle of nowhere, I entertained myself by writing.

Research,' for me, is a big word that encompasses a lot of different activities, all of them based around curiosity. Research is traveling to places, or studying snowflakes with a magnifying glass, or excavating one's memories. Research is walking around Hamburg with a notebook.

The most amazing gift about being a novelist is that you get to pursue your curiosity every day.

I kind of do all of this writing as a way of thinking and learning. I'm sure it's similar to being a journalist: You get to learn, and that's the greatest kind of job.

Baseball wasn't necessarily my first sport in terms of liking it. I'd never played baseball or softball growing up.

When it is 1-0 and you have been dominant and you have restricted the home team to pretty much nothing, if you do not score the second goal then that is football. Any action can happen in the game.

The concentration of the elite athlete is akin perhaps to the concentration of the writer.

I'm not going to revolutionise football. I'm in a system. You have to know how to respect it and to stay in place.