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I never imagined when I began writing in the early 1960s I'd become professional and my life would be transformed.

At the age of twenty, having published nothing and having had little guidance in my reading, I decided that I wanted to write.

If you wish to be a writer, write.

I had thought of writing, actually, and that later on I'd be a novelist.

A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

I started writing seriously about 1960, at the fairly advanced age of 30.

When I began to write seriously, 40 years ago now, my chosen form was the novel.

When I began to write and used a typewriter, I went through three drafts of a book before showing it to an editor.

Writing is a calling, not a choice.