When People Say They Write For Themselves,

There Is Very Little That Is Accidental In My Work. I Believe In Serendipity For Developments Of Plot, But The Actual Writing Is Arrived At By Very Hard Work. The Joy Of Writing Doesn't Mean That You Don't Get The Backaches And Headaches And The Days When It's Not Coming.

We All Start Out With The Same Alphabet. We Are All Unique. Talent Is Not The Most Important Thing --- Discipline And Dedication Are. Craft Can Be Learned But Desire And Longing Are Innate. Despite The Demands Of School And Just Being Young, Try To Write Something Every Day --- A Description, A Captured Emotion, A Simile, A Metaphor. Read, For Crying Out Loud! A Writer Must Read The Way A Ball Player Must Go To The Ballfield Every Day To Practice. Everything Is Possible In This World Of Ours--- And So's Publication.

People Always Ask Me About The Role Models That I'm Providing For Kids, And I Say I Can't Be Concerned With That. I'm Not Worrying About Corrupting Youth. I'm Worrying About Writing Realistically And Truthfully To Affect The Reader.

I Don't Like To Think In Terms Of Writing Ten Or Twelve Pages A Day. Usually I'm Writing A Scene, And It's Always With The Idea, "i Wonder What Is Going To Happen." Or Sometimes I Write About Something That Affected Me Emotionally The Day Before And That I Don't Want To Lose. I'm Very Unorganized At First; But Finally It Comes Into A Structure Where Consciously I'm Working On A Novel Per Se.

It Would Be Nice To Avoid The World, To Leave It And All Its Threats And Unhappiness. Not To Die Or Anything Like That, But To Find A Place Of Solitude And Solace.