Read heavily in the area where you want to write. Be aware of what’s selling and what’s doing well but don’t try to write to market trends; they are fleeting.

I believe the most intricate plot won’t matter much to readers if they don’t care about the characters, especially in a series. So I try to focus hard on making each character, whether villain or hero, have an interesting flaw that readers can relate to.

I do think Austin is a great town for writers; we have a lot of them here. But I grew up in Austin, and so I didn’t move here because it was a creative mecca; I was just lucky to live here.

The nicest notes I’ve received from readers are those that tell me I’ve gotten them back into reading for entertainment. For me, there is no greater compliment.

There is a time on every job where you say, screw caution. I’m not foolhardy. I’m not stupid. But sometimes you have to be the battering ram.

If it’s broken, it can be fixed.

You can't be a professor and talk out of a textbook to teach locomotive operations. You can't create the end product without hands-on training.

Criminals are dumb as stumps. If they were smart they could go be investment bankers. Or judges.

Read heavily in the area where you want to write. Be aware of what's selling and what's doing well but don't try to write to market trends; they are fleeting.

Keep your head down, avoid all the distractions of being a writer today—all the shifts in the business, all the drama, all the debating about where publishing is going—and write the best story that you can. It sounds a bit glib, but I think this is advice a lot of people are having trouble following right now. It is so hard to focus. But that is the single key to success.