I Became Paralyzed As An Artist With

I Have Relaxed Into My Persona As An Author, Although I Used To Fight That.

My Book Is Traditional. It Runs Counter To The Post-modern Spirit.

I Was Aware That There Is An Expectation That Writers Inevitably Falter At This Stage, That They Fail To Live Up To The Promise Of Their First Successful Book, That The Next Book Never Pleases The Way The Prior One Did. It Simply Increased My Sense Of Being Challenged.

Writing Became An Obsessive Compulsive Habit But I Had Almost No Money So I Thought About Being An Urban Firefighter And Having Lots Of Free Time In Which To Write Or Becoming An English Teacher And Thinking About Books And Writers On A Daily Basis. That Swayed Me.

Time Made Me Change. I Gradually Woke Up To The Realization That This Is Who I Am, An Author, A Public Figure, And I Couldn't Just Hide In My Study, Tapping Away At The Keyboard And Pretend That I Didn't Have A Role To Play Beyond Stringing Words Together.