As far as I'm concerned, the entire reason for becoming a writer is not having to get up in the morning.

I think the short story is a very underrated art form. We know that novels deserve respect.

I started out writing much more science fictiony stuff and writing about science fiction.

You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it.

In many ways, it was much, much harder to get the first book contract. The hardest thing probably overall has been learning not to trust people, publicists and so forth, implicitly.