I always thought of myself as a kind of literary bureaucrat. And that was never going to be enough for me.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I've basically thought of myself as a writer, whether I was or not.
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'd always loved to read - and come from a family of readers - but I never thought about writing as a career.
You have to remember that in addition to running a literary agency, I am also an ebook publisher.
I was a businessman for 16 years of my life, so when I started writing, I wanted to keep my literary identity separate.
Probably because I really love this bookmaking and storytelling world, I'd been thinking for years about the possibility of becoming a literary agent.
I was always attracted and repelled by the idea of being a writer.
I always wanted to be a writer! But I wanted to do other things, too - be a psychologist, a librarian, et cetera. Now I've decided that reading fiction that features characters who are in those professions will do.
Without the faintest possibility of finding a job, I decided to devote myself to literature: it was about time to find out what I was worth as a writer.
I like to think of myself as an unmediated novelist - or perhaps a national novelist.