In any novel I write, I have in my mind several things which happened in the protagonist's past which I never mention in the book.

I read poetry every day. I look at it as an exercise, a kind of T'ai Chi for writers. It teaches economy of form.

Space opera was the sort of story on which I grew up. When I was younger, I read heavily in pulp magazines. They were readily available in the stores.

I try to sit down at the typewriter four times a day, even if it's only five minutes, and write three sentences.

That difficult start drove me on to inspire children and let them know that it is never to late to repair a bad experience at school, and once you get your head down and start to read books, you can really achieve.

When women are paid for their work and have control over how the money gets spent, they invest much more of their income than men do in their families' education and health.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.

My dad always taught me if I have my education, anything is possible.