Don't get me wrong: I think that everyone should put forth an effort to do better, but let's face it, some of us are just plain luckier than others. — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share Image
Four hundred or so people lived in Knockemstiff in 1957, nearly all of them connected by blood through one godforsaken calamity or another, be it lust or necessity or just plain ignorance. — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share Image
“Strangers complained about the stench, but the locals liked to brag that it was the sweet smell of money.” — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
I don't really think the outburst is recent; there have always been writers in Appalachia. — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
Unless he had whiskey running through his veins, Willard came to the clearing every morning and evening to talk to God. Arvin didn't know… — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
For example, if it's a sad scene, I need to feel that way, at least to a slight degree and for a short while,… — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
As for how I feel about any success I've had, I just feel extremely lucky. Writing is a tough racket, and there are a… — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
Part of the reason might be that I was born in 1954 and I look upon my youth with great fondness, like many old… — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
I've never heard of that anthology [Vance Randolph, Pissing in the Snow], but you can be sure I'll buy it now. — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
When I first started out, I was trying to write stories about nurses and lawyers and a lot of people I didn't know anything… — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
“It's hard to live a good life...It seems like the Devil don't ever let up.” — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
I'm not sure what the proper label might be, or the most accurate one, but someone once called my stuff Southern Ohio Gothic and… — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
Don't get me wrong: I think that everyone should put forth an effort to do better, but let's face it, some of us are… — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
I look upon [writing about religion] as a nice way to get by in this precarious world, though I've never been able to do… — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
[Degree in English] gave me a little more self-confidence, to know that I'd managed to complete something like that. — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
When I was growing up, I always wanted to be somebody else and live somewhere else. I've always felt a little uncomfortable around people. — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
There are a lot of writers from the South who would probably have once figured they needed to go to New York to make… — Donald Ray Pollock Copy Share
