I was writing novels in high school and apprenticed myself in a way both to Faulkner and to Hemingway.

For obviously the advantage for most writers is that no one sees them. The writer is invisible, which confers power.

I read books. Avidly, ardently! As if my life depended upon it.

Childhood is the province of the imagination and when I immerse myself in it, I re-create it as it was, as it could have been, as I wanted - and didn't want - it to be.

Early publication can be a dubious blessing: we all know writers who would give anything not to have published their first book, and go about trying to buy up all existing copies.

Getting the first draft finished is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor.

I never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.