I read my first short story by Kurt Vonnegut when I was in sixth grade.

It was confusing, but his voice seemed to be one of those that I wasn't able to walk away from. It was the phrase "So it goes," that truly got me hooked. A phrase thats brevity actually makes it more powerful. 

I have, in many ways, attempted to adopt a voice that Vonnegut would approve of. Layering my pieces in a way that can captivate people as I was capitavated by him.