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

Im always trolling for trivia.

No one uses a ribbon typewriter any more, but your final draft is not the time to try to wring a few more sheets out of your inkjet cartridge.

If you write, one of the questions you're always trying to answer is, Where do you get your ideas? And, if you write, you know how pointless a question this is and how difficult it is to answer.

Ideas aren't magical; the only tricky part is holding on to one long enough to get it written down.

Short-story writing requires an exquisite sense of balance. Novelists, frankly, can get away with more. A novel can have a dull spot or two, because the reader has made a different commitment.

It took me about 12 years to reach my million-word mark. The challenge now is to continue to challenge myself.