To me history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility. To me it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is. |
In time I began to understand that it's when you start writing that you really find out what you don't know and need to know. |
My shorthand answer is that I try to write the kind of book that I would like to read. If I can make it clear and interesting and compelling to me, then I hope maybe it will be for the reader. |
I work very hard on the writing, writing and rewriting and trying to weed out the lumber. |
I'm drawn particularly to stories that evolve out of the character of the protagonist. |
I just thank my father and mother, my lucky stars, that I had the advantage of an education in the humanities. |