When I'm up for an award, there are usually two or three other things on the ballot that I like better than my own fiction.

Topiary has always seemed like a good occupation, comparable in some ways to writing short fiction.

Well, I don't ever leave out details, in that I don't come up with information or description which I don't then use. I only ever come up with what seems to me absolutely essential to make the story work. I'm not usually an overwriter. As I revise, it's usually a matter of adding in as much vivid details as seem necessary to make the story come clear without slowing down the momentum of the story.

The Customer isn't always right. Sometimes the customer is an a**hole. That's the first rule of retail.

I'd be flattered if someone said that my work is "too weird" for them. I value the uncompliment.

Most of My Friends are two-thirds water

Whether or not this story has a happy ending depends, of course, on who is reading it. Whether you are a wolf or a girl.