One thing you who had secure or happy childhoods should understand about those of us who did not. We who control our feelings, who avoid conflicts at all costs, or seem to seek them. Who are hypersensitive, self-critical, compulsive, workaholic, and above all survivors. We are not that way from perversity, and we cannot just relax and let it go. We’ve learned to cope in ways you never had to.

I do one Xanth novel a year, because at the moment that is all that publishers will accept; they don't want any other type of fiction from me, so Xanth pays my way.

That most dangerous of opponents: the one who took pains to comprehend the position of his adversary.

If every editor turns you down, maybe you should take a second look at your text, however, just in case.

Robert Jordan... is a lot of writer

Have a working spouse, because you won't earn a living from writing - not at first, if ever. My wife worked for years to support us.

SF is the literature of the theoretically possible, and F is the literature of the impossible.