Quote

It takes a long time to write a novel when you have to keep interrupting your work to earn money.

Well, to be honest I think I'm a better short story writer than a novelist. Novels I find very hard, hours and hours, weeks and weeks, of conscious thought - whereas short stories slip out painlessly in a few days.

A novel usually takes me two years. A year to research and plan and dream. Then a year to write.

I often say flippantly that the short story is... shorter; you can be done with it more easily. It's much less of a commitment of time and energy than a big project like a novel or long nonfiction book.

I can write for a long time on one novel and not get tired.

I never bought the excuse of not having time to write. If you really want to do it, you're either going to find those hours or eventually decide not to be a writer.

I think it's much more natural as a writer to want to tell one story rather than lots of small stories that are half an hour long.

How long it takes to write a book depends on its length.

For me, writing a short story is much, much harder than writing a novel.