Self-Realization Fellowship seemed like training. It was the training ground for finding a sense of peace in myself. Because that's my job. It's no one else's.

I build a kind of wall between myself and t he model so that I can paint in peace behind it. Otherwise she might say something that confuses and distracts me.

Where I once constantly lost my temper I found myself arriving at a crisis and experiencing peace.

I always thought of myself as a moderate liberal a fighter for peace and justice. I never thought of myself as being all that far out.

They may call me a sinner but I am at peace with myself.

As a young boy I read 'Cheaper by the Dozen' and immediately became neurotic about my use of time. It taxed me severely but only for the next 50 years. But I think it also allowed me to discipline myself to sit in the chair and be a writer where one of the most needed qualities is patience.

And so at the age of thirty I had successively disgraced myself with three fine institutions each of which had made me free of its full and rich resources had trained me with skill and patience and had shown me nothing but forbearance and charity when I failed in trust.

I learned patience perseverance and dedication. Now I really know myself and I know my voice. It's a voice of pain and victory.

As for goals I don't set myself those anymore. I'm not one of these 'I must have achieved this and that by next year' kind of writers. I take things as they come and find that patience and persistence tend to win out in the end.

I'm torn about late parenting. I believe people should spend their twenties living and having fun and not having any regrets later. I also think people in their thirties generally make better parents but so many of my friends are having trouble - myself included - as fathers get older.