Quotes
I've thought about writing in other genres, but my imagination just doesn't seem to lead me in other directions.
I've read short stories that are as dense as a 19th century novel and novels that really are short stories filled with a lot of helium.
I've got two degrees in medieval history.
I've done a lot of shared-worlds and work-for-hire. Ask me if I think it's always been good for my career and the unequivocal answer is No, but it's paid the bills when the bills.
I've developed a reputation as someone who can turn a sow's ear into a silk purse when it comes to pulling a story out of a murky milieu, and that keeps my name in circulation.
I've always seen Thieves' World from two perspectives-as a business property and as a creative sandbox.
I'm one of those writers who, when writing, believes she's god-and that she hasn't bestowed free will on any of her characters. In that sense there are no surprises in any of my books.
I'm not constrained by being a genre writer. Any story I can imagine, I can cast as a fantasy novel and probably get it published.
I'm no athlete and my piano lessons were going nowhere; I got good marks in school, but there were always kids who outshined me-until I wrote a short story.
I'm dense when it comes to discouragement.
I'm currently working on my third book about Emma Merrigan, curse hunter and university librarian.
I'm always trolling for trivia.
I'm a writer first and an editor second... or maybe third or even fourth. Successful editing requires a very specific set of skills, and I don't claim to have all of them at my command.
I write sets of books, but I've also written a lot of orphans.
I wish I knew how to imagine a short story, because I rather like the form, but they're too time-consuming for me to write on a regular basis.
I went to Oklahoma to recover from a shattering divorce and I couldn't have found a better, safer haven, but in time I realized that I needed to be closer to my parents, which entailed moving to Florida.
I was one of those rare and fortunate writers who did not go through an amateur period of creating unpublished/unpublishable fiction. I didn't actually start writing with professional intent until a golden opportunity fell into my lap.
I think my prose reads as if English were my second language. By the time I get to the end of a paragraph, I'm dodging bullets and gasping for breath.
I love writing Thieves' World, but I feel a responsibility, too, to the other authors. I've lost many nights' sleep worrying if I've made the sandbox too large, too small.
I have some history books that I come back to when I'm trying to debug my worlds.