When I started out as a novelist, I thought I was going to be a private-eye writer. That was my intent, and that's what I studied, I mean, scholarly.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I did a lot of my writing as though I was an academic, doing some piece of research as perfectly as possible.
My intention throughout has been to write, to create literature, and to be able to look people in the eye after I'd done it - the people I'd written about.
I became a writer because I love to read, yet I never get to unless I'm reviewing a book or doing research.
I think of myself as a serious professor who, during the weekend, writes novels.
I trained as a writer before I became a lawyer. I was headed for a life as an English professor, but that just wasn't me. I'm not a scholar; I didn't have a scholar's attitude toward literature.
I never studied writing, but I'd always been a reader and had a secret fantasy about being a writer.
I consider what I write to be literature. I choose the words carefully.
I've basically thought of myself as a writer, whether I was or not.
Growing up, I never gave a thought to being a writer. All I ever wanted to be was a traveler and explorer. Science-fiction allowed me to go places that were otherwise inaccessible, which is why I started reading it. I was going to be a lawyer, but I got saved.
I cannot recall any moment of clarity about becoming a writer. I always liked to read. That's what did it.