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I have a Ford Taurus, and I don't care who knows it.
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The opening novel of the 'Bayou Trilogy' was the first one I finished.
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I was born in West Plains, and we lived here till I was one. Then my dad needed to get a job, so we moved to the St. Louis area. I lived in St. Charles, on the Missouri River, till I was 15.
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My father was a salesman, and I always said I wouldn't be one.
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I know people who have, until recently, lived with dirt floors. There are people who live way back off the grid, without electricity. Not a whole lot, but quite a few. That's a choice for a lot of them. There might be a religious element in their isolation, at least with some of them.
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I love Shakespeare and the Greeks - learned a lot studying them at one time.
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I learned my values. It's better to be poor than to be beholden. Wealth is not the object of life. You should be polite as long as possible, and when you can't be polite anymore, don't run.
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I have always loved short stories. I have been at least as influenced by the short story masters as I have been by novelists.
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I didn't really expect to be coming to the Oscars.
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I can't say that dropping out of school at 16 to join the Marines was my best idea. On the other hand, maybe it was. Who knows?
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Most of my characters aren't hillbillies anyway. Let's just call them proletariat with a disposition towards criminal activity.
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I guess it's ridiculously romantic, but I wanted to be a full tilt, sink-or-swim writer.
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I think there are some folks who don't particularly like what I have to say, but on the whole, the reaction has been very positive.
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When poetry is on the money, 12 words can slay you. I admire that greatly.
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I think my grandmother Woodrell was most responsible for my becoming a writer. She wasn't quite literate, but was very proud that she attended school as far as the third grade. She worked as a maid, housekeeper and cook.
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I'm surviving and developing as a writer. I don't know what brings you to mass attention in terms of sales. But I've gotten more and more comfortable with it. Of course if that changes, I'll be comfortable with that. All I can do is write the best books I can.
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I felt like a number of things in me as a writer just clicked.
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It's called 'The Outlaw Album,' not 'The Ozarks Album.' These are stories that delve into different kinds of outlawry, from criminal acts to interior, or psychological, outlawry. The book is not meant to be a tapestry of the Ozarks.