I Grew Up In Seattle,

I Think Of Myself As A Really Happy Person.

He Decided Then That He Would Love Her Forever No Matter What Came To Pass. It Was Not So Much A Matter Of Deciding As Accepting The Inevitability Of It. It Made Him Feel Better, Though He Felt Perturbed, Too, Worried That This Kiss Was Wrong. But From His Point Of View, At Fourteen Years Old, Their Love Was Entirely Unavoidable. It Had Started On The Day They'd Clung To His Glass Box And Kissed In The Sea, And Now It Must Go On Forever. He Felt Certain Of This.

I Write Because Something Inner And Unconscious Forces Me To. That Is The First Compulsion. The Second Is One Of Ethical And Moral Duty. I Feel Responsible To Tell Stories That Inspire Readers To Consider More Deeply Who They Are.

Time Made Me Change. I Gradually Woke Up To The Realization That This Is Who I Am, An Author, A Public Figure, And I Couldn't Just Hide In My Study, Tapping Away At The Keyboard And Pretend That I Didn't Have A Role To Play Beyond Stringing Words Together.

Fiction Is Socially Meaningful.