I studied the cello for a long time, from when I was little up through college.

There's a special gut-check moment the first time you write a scene in which somebody casts a spell.

Maybe there's a sense that technology isn't necessarily the answer to a lot of our problems. Fantasy offers readers a less radically alienated world - a world where desires and feelings that normally are trapped inside your mind are made real in the form of magic.

I'm happy to report that 'The New Press' is still in business to this day. But not thanks to me. I was a really bad publishing intern.

I think for a long time, I was paralyzed by some of my hopes and ideals for what my life was going to be like. I had this perfect vision of how my life should go, but it seemed - it was - impossible to realize, so I sat around for a long, long time doing almost nothing at all.

Read everything. If you haven't read everything, you'll never be able to write anything.

Magic is wild, dangerous stuff. You never realize how useful limitations are until it's much too late.