I've done very well financially and sold a lot because I've had a multiple method of attack as a writer. That's a conscious strategy.

Edgar Rice Burroughs taught me pace and gave me a sense of action and adventure.

Some people see writing as a white-collar career, but I've always approached it as a blue-collar writer.

I lived below the poverty line when I was young and starting out as a writer. But my wife and I kept trying to do things better, as anyone with ambition does. But just because you're trying doesn't mean you're always going to succeed.

I've benefited enormously from an arts education and a music education in New York. When they cut the programs for funding, I was devastated.

There is nothing more important to improve humanity than education.

Noises and smells, those can bring back powerful memories. I remember when I was going to school one Fourth of July, and there were a lot of fireworks going off. I knew that I was in Richmond. I knew that I was a college student. But I thought people were shooting at me.

In our post-9/11 world, our Nation's military deserves, at least the same access to institutions of higher education that any other major employer might enjoy.