Ok. First of all. Ouch. Second of all,I’m glad you enjoyed the Spy Goddess books. I’m sorry you were disappointed in how the second book ended and how it was turned into a Manga series. What I hope you will understand is that these decisions were not mine to make. The publisher, HarperCollins, decided they didn’t want any more Spy Goddess books after two. And in order to keep the series alive I had to go with the Manga version. I would have loved to have kept going and writing new novels in the Spy Goddess world but it just didn’t work out. So I’m sorry that you’re upset, but I appreciate your passion. In the meantime, I’m moving on to a lot of other exciting things so I hope you’ll spend some time on my website and check out some of my other books. Keep reading!

I’m not comparing myself to Styron by any stretch, but I don’t know anything about being a squire to a Templar Knight, yet I still managed to write THE YOUNGEST TEMPLAR. Because I was passionate about the story.

Passion is what drives the world. It’s also what creates stories and art.

And don’t know if he would agree with this, but I believe that writers are made, not born. I could sing for 50,000 hours and never be a singer. You either have the chops or you don’t. Writing, is an entirely different instrument. It took me 20 years to get my first book published, and almost 20 years to get where I am today. Along the way I had the good fortune to get involved in some interesting things, and meet some interesting people, which gave me something to write about.

I’m not repeating the adage, write what you “know” here… In fact, I don’t believe in that. You write about what you care about. And I suspect that what most authors care about most in their books are the characters they invent. This is why the reader turns the pages too.

Thanks for stopping by the blog! Roland is indeed an amazing writer and having had the pleasure to know him for a few years now an even better guy. I haven’t read Outliers yet, but I did read The Tipping Point and found it fascinating. Roland’s take has made me want to read it though.

As for your writing, it does take time and effort but so does doing anything well. Don’t give up. I believe it was Edison who said 90% of success in life is just dogged persistence. Paraphrasing.

Thanks again for checking out the blog and I hope you’ll come back in the weeks ahead for more talks with some great talents.

I’m glad to hear that someone else is comforted by the premise of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and how much energy, time, and effort it takes to be good at anything, particularly writing. I often wonder if I am possessed because I spend so many hours on my writing in addition to a full time job in an elementary school.