Happy children do not seem to grow up to be writers.

Is it foolish to care for non-existent folk?Then, leave me to my foolishness.

I have, as may be apparent, not much respect for editors as a class.

Writers pay a lot of attention to wordage, because some publishers seem to care more about length than about quality and will automatically reject novels that don't fit their narrow standards of length - or will chop out extra wordage to make a novel fit.

It would be easier to write a novel without reader input, but I feel the fiction is richer for it.

Keep writing, because not only does practice improve skill, it gives you more chances to score on the market. I did that for eight years before making my first sale.

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.

I did not know at first that it would be a series; I discovered after the first novel that I had more to say about it, so I did another. And another, and then the readers demanded yet more.

Here's a secret: fictive text doesn't necessarily flow easily. Most of the time it's more like cutting a highway through a mountain. You just have to keep working with your pick, chipping away at the rock, making slow progress.