For me, writing a short story is much, much harder than writing a novel.

That bedrock faith that I could write was what blinded me to attempts to discourage me.

A good short-story writer has an instinct for sketching in just enough background to ground the specific story.

Editors of open anthologies actively seek submissions from all comers, established and unknown. They are willing to read whatever the tide washes up at their feet.

I'm dense when it comes to discouragement.

I write sets of books, but I've also written a lot of orphans.

Neophyte writers tend to believe that there is something magical about ideas and that if they can just get a hold of a good one, then their futures are ensured.