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I edit as I write. I revise endlessly. I don't go forward until I know that what I've written is as good as I can make it.

When you are reading, someone has done a lot of work on your behalf, someone has had ideas and has then written and corrected and improved them so that they can be shared.

Everything that you read is an influence on everything you write, and you want to draw as many elements into your work as you can.

What I read, I read thoroughly and retain almost all of it.

Sometimes I can spend as long revising a manuscript as I spent writing it in the first place.

I've written the best work I know how. And I'm appreciative of the people who read it and care about the work - and that's pretty much the end of that.

Writing, for me, is an inherent part of understanding the material on a deeper level.

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.

I, personally, have found reading a continual support to writing.

I write in a journal first, briefly. Then read something I've read many times before, for about half an hour, then rework what I wrote the day before.