One thing that worried me was how writers get categorized and so they end up having to write the same kind of book again and again. That is fine if it is what you want to do, but I would rather be locked in the trunk of my car with a weasel than write the same book every three years until I die.

Writing is a job: you must show up.

Every book has got its challenges. You run into a plot point that you can't figure out, or a scene that you struggle to write and have to write 50 times.

Real courage is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. Doing the unpopular thing because it's what you believe, and the heck with everybody.

And I grew up on a steady diet of science fiction, especially apocalyptic and postapocalyptic fiction.

You learn to write by reading, and my experiences and tastes as a reader are pretty wide.

It's different being afraid when there's the hope it will amount to something.