“Writer's block! It doesn't exist. You just long for ideas to go away s...” — Colm Toibin Quote

Writer's block! It doesn't exist. You just long for ideas to go away so you have an idea of peace.

The novel space is a pure space. I'm nobody once I go into that room. I'm not gay, I'm not bald, I'm not Irish. I'm not anybody. I'm nobody. I'm the guy telling the story, and the only person that matters is the person reading that story, the target. It's to get that person to feel what I'm trying to dramatize.

In Ireland, novels and plays still have a strange force. The writing of fiction and the creation of theatrical images can affect life there more powerfully and stealthily than speeches, or even legislation. Imagined worlds can lodge deeply in the private sphere, dislodging much else, especially when the public sphere is fragile.

I feel just fine about ignoring or bypassing the rights of people I have known and loved to be rendered faithfully, or to be left in peace, and out of novels.

In this time of budget cuts, we cannot forget that basic science is a building block for scientific innovation and economic growth in the information age.

If politicians in a state block education choice, it means those politicians do not support equal opportunity for all kids.

For me, it's never really been a road block for me to shoot, it's just a matter of me continuing to shoot and shooting with confidence.

On my block, I had all these guys coming in and out of jail. When I was 13, I was playing outside my house, and one of those guys came across the street and started cussing me out, wanting to fight me. People knew I trained kickboxing and would put the gloves on with my friends, so that made me a target.