And in my own life in my own small way I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us - no matter what our age or background or walk of life - each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.
My view is that at a younger age your optimism is more and you have more imagination etc. You have less bias.
Every age has its own poetry in every age the circumstances of history choose a nation a race a class to take up the torch by creating situations that can be expressed or transcended only through poetry.
We prefer world law in the age of self-determination to world war in the age of mass extermination.
I'm a morning person because I learned to write my novels while still practicing law. I would get to the office at 6:30 a.m. and write until other people arrived around 9. Now I still do that. I start at 6:30 or 7 and I'll write until 11 then take an hour off then work until about 2 p.m. By then my brain has had enough.