NORA ROBERTS

I need to write to be happy.

I'd always loved to read - and come from a family of readers - but I never thought about writing as a career.

In the summer of '80, Silhouette bought my first book.

Actually, I find it great fun to develop family series with lots of characters.

Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice.

You don't find time to write. You make time. It's my job.

The most important aspect of any story, to me, is character.

I find I use the Internet more and more. It's just an invaluable tool. I do most of my research on the Net now - and certainly do the bulk of my communicating through email.

One of my greatest pleasures is falling into a story someone else has written.

I do indeed write on the road. My laptop goes with me everywhere.

Every single book is a challenge.

I don't believe for one moment you can write well what you wouldn't read for pleasure.

I don't think you can write - at least not well - if you don't love stories, love the written word.

If you write in category, you write knowing there's a framework, there are reader expectations.

For over a year I continued to submit mss, and have them rejected - the last few with rejection letters indicated the story was pretty good, but I was American.

I would hope that my writing's cleaner than it was when I started.

I don't base any character on a real person, and really don't do composites either. I make them up.

My own sense of family, where I came from and what I made for myself is an important part of my life.

I've gotten to know a number of readers from being online, and really treasure the time I've spent with them.

I don't fiddle or edit or change while I'm going through that first draft.

Every writer has to figure out what works best - and often has to select and discard different tools before they find the one that fits.

I decided to write category romance as I'd recently discovered them, and enjoyed them.

I read a lot - and I read a variety of genres.

Certainly the plagiarism, and dealing with the fallout of it, was the most difficult thing I've ever faced since I started writing.

Mary Stewart will always be my goddess. I can pick up one of her early books - one I've read a dozen times - and still slide right into the story.