It's very difficult to put in the work unless you believe that what you're doing is significant in some way.

I co-edited an anthology called Interfictions with Delia Sherman and wrote a short scholarly book on three women poets called Voices from Fairyland: The Fantastical Poems of Mary Coleridge, Charlotte Mew, and Sylvia Townsend Warner. So I've been busy, but I haven't had time to write a novel.

I had a short story collection come out in 2006, and then I couldn't work on large projects for a long time because I was finishing my doctoral degree.

If you’re a writer, your first duty, a duty you owe to yourself and your readers, and to your writing itself, is to become wonderful. To become the best writer you can possibly be.

I see so many talented writers who have difficulties with that. And if you don't believe it's important, you won't put in the work you need to.

I think part of my purpose in this life is to talk about magic, and to make it.

Believe in the importance of your art.