I keep one simple rule that I only move in one direction - I write the book straight through from beginning to end. By following time's arrow, I keep myself sane.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
But I've been at writing long enough now to know that every three or four books I have to start a new direction.
I've been at writing long enough now to know that every three or four books, I have to start a new direction.
I've always been a rule-follower. Even when I was a kid, I tried to do everything by the book.
Writing a book, you can only get stopped by yourself.
When a book is going well, it tells you where to go.
With each book you write you have to learn how to write that book - so every time, you have to start all over again.
I always want my books to reach a positive point in the end.
The thing I'm always trying to do when I write is hit that sweet spot where the book both keeps you up late at night, and yet a week after you've finished, it still pops back into your head.
The point of what I do is that it doesn't really matter what a book or a story is as long it moves you, informs you, challenges you, entertains you, or changes you.
You work hard on a book and throw it out there and then it's beyond your control.