I put that part of myself into both Brendan and Evelyn [from The Thorn and the Blossom] - as well as some of my own anxieties about the academic life!
The appeal of writing a romance was that I'd never written one before the The Thorn and The Blossom.
Art inspires me. Looking at art in a museum listening to music reading the works of other writers.
So much work went into this book [ "The Thorn & The Blossom"] - you can probably tell from looking at the art and overall design.
The book itself [The Thorn and The Blossom] is bound accordion-style: it has no spine so it can open in either direction and it's in a slipcase.
Believe in the importance of your art.
Accept criticism. If you do not offer your work for criticism and accept that criticism meaning give it serious thought and attention then you will never improve.
Writing is an art like other arts. Dancers don't dance every once in a while. Musicians don't stop practicing. They are dedicated to what they do.
Now that The Thorn and the Blossom has come out and I'm done with my doctoral degree (yes I'm finally Dr. Goss) I'm turning to longer projects.
I actually pushed the boundaries on how long a book like this [The Thorn and the Blossom] can be. The original plan called for two 7 500 word stories and I turned in two 10 000 word stories.
Of course with Papaveria Press you know the book itself is going to be beautiful.
I'm working on a poetry collection for Papaveria Press . It fills me with trepidation - poetry is something I'm much more self-conscious about than prose.
I had a short story collection come out in 2006 and then I couldn't work on large projects for a long time because I was finishing my doctoral degree.
Nature inspires me continually. Today I can look out my window and see the entire world covered with snow. It's like Narnia under the White Witch.
I see so many talented writers who have difficulties with that. And if you don't believe it's important you won't put in the work you need to.
It's very difficult to put in the work unless you believe that what you're doing is significant in some way.
What writers do - everything comes from inside from experiences of the world that we have digested. And then we turn it into silk or stories.
The only thing worth thinking about when I write a story is whether I like it whether I want to write it whether it excites me.
It happened the way I come up with any story which is that I took elements of my own life and put them into the story but in a very mixed-up way.
Sometimes you have to follow your uncommon sense.
Writers: believe! And go do the work . . .
I loved writing something I'd never written before and I wanted to write not just about "true love" but also a human relationship.
That sort of effort has to come not only from the writer but also from a really innovative publisher like Quirk.
I've heard some readers saying they wished the story was longer and I completely understand that desire - we all like to sink into a nice long novel.
I think part of my purpose in this life is to talk about magic and to make it.
If you look at the natural world really look at it it's always magical.