It's possible to become so comfortable with one's style and structure that one ceases to grow.

It's possible to become so comfortable with one's style and structure that one ceases to grow.

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

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.

The money can be decent, but I really don't recommend the work-for-hire route as an entry into publishing. Too many things can go wrong.

Once you've invested hundreds of hours in creating a coherent universe, your story's grown to around a half-million words and can't be written as anything less than a trilogy.