Nora Roberts.
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TIME's interview with the author continues on Time.com. Read these extra questions for Nora Roberts.
Did you ever receive negative feedback from editors before your career took off? —Claudia Nelson, Hydesville, CA
I can't say negative, but I certainly had plenty of rejections. It is very rare that you sell the first book right away.
Do you ever get sick of writing and want to try something else? —Ian Kachemov, Highland, MD
I have no idea what I would do if I wasn't a writer. It is the best job in the world. I never get sick of it. I think you can get tired—I know I do—of the business around the writing, but not of the actual process of sitting down at the keyboard and working. If you don't love it, I don't know why you would do it, because it is very hard work. It is also solitary work—your butt is in the chair for many hours a day. But, for me, that is exactly what I want to be doing.
What is your best advice to people who are trying to become novelists? —Dan Munoz, St. Louis, Miss.
Do your homework. If you are lacking in any of the nuts and bolts skills, structure, punctuation or grammar—study up. Also, write what you read. You can't write well what you don't read for pleasure. If it doesn't entertain you it's not going to entertain anyone else. Join Romance Writers of America. And don't say, 'I'm going to write when I find the time'—that's the most irritating thing I ever hear. Nobody finds time, you have to make it.