Ideas aren't magical; the only tricky part is holding on to one long enough to get it written down.

When I'm not writing or tweaking my computer, I do embroidery. When I'm not plunging into the past, tweaking, or embroidering, I'm reading books about history, computers, or embroidery.

Short-story writing requires an exquisite sense of balance. Novelists, frankly, can get away with more. A novel can have a dull spot or two, because the reader has made a different commitment.

No one uses a ribbon typewriter any more, but your final draft is not the time to try to wring a few more sheets out of your inkjet cartridge.

Ideas aren't magical; the only tricky part is holding on to one long enough to get it written down.

I've read short stories that are as dense as a 19th century novel and novels that really are short stories filled with a lot of helium.