I don't need validation, recognition or praise. What I need are facts and the facts are that one of my books gets sold, somewhere in the world, every second.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I always market research my books before I hand them in by showing them to five or six close friends who I trust to be honest with me, so they are very heavily re-written already.
I write novels, mostly historical ones, and I try hard to keep them accurate as to historical facts, milieu and flavor.
When a book raises your spirit, and inspires you with noble and manly thoughts, seek for no other test of its excellence. It is good, and made by a good workman.
I want this book to be facts, to be important, to be history.
There's something nice and intimate about having a book. You know that someone's actually gone on this journey. You know that someone has actually researched and reported all these things. You can see and hear their tone in what they chosen to include and what they haven't.
Whether I'm critically well received, whether or not I sell books - of course it becomes progressively harder to get them published - nevertheless, it's what I do, every day.
I do my best to build a strong factual foundation for each of my novels and rely upon my author's notes to keep my conscience clear.
Books, like proverbs, receive their chief value from the stamp and esteem of ages through which they passed.
Books, like proverbs, receive their chief value from the stamp and esteem of the ages through which they have passed.
I offer detailed but mostly invented narratives about the provenance of my books.