I am a novelist first and last. I think I write because I am driven to do it. Otherwise the difficulties would be very hard to handle. I wrote my first novel out of college and never looked back. I learned to write from reading fiction. Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Keraouc, Faulkner, Wolfe, Joyce, then a smattering of other authors. I think novelists must have thick ankles to keep producing and I believe every writer has an obligation to their talent. And I believe in what Fitzgerald said. Behind every novelist is a moralist.