1. Paper breeds. There is no other explanation for the neverending piles on my desk.
2. I’m obsessive about pens.
3. And I’m obsessive about editing. I want to see every editing change, in case I would chose to solve the problem a different way.
4. I understand the debate over the Oxford comma, and actually have an opinion about it.
5. There’s never enough solitude, until there’s way too much. I’m not sure how that works, but there it is.
6. I have good writing days and bad writing days, and while there are things I can do to encourage the one and discourage the other, mostly they come and go with some pattern I have no recognition of, or ability to control. So I just write, and try to flow with it.
7. There is little money in writing, and much panic in the industry. My job is to ignore all that, and to simply write.
8. There’s a hierarchy for writers, that some believe in very strongly and others not at all. I find it puzzling.
9. To people who say, “I don’t like fantasy,” I want to ask, “You don’t like Shakespeare’s The Tempest? A Midsummer’s Night Dream?”
10. For people who just really like good writing, I sigh with relief and agree. And if they also really like kids, and think kids deserve amazing stories, and that many kids books are wonderful, I am delighted.
Maureen