So, as you all know, one of my favorite questions to ask writers is my blue pill question. Remember in The Matrix where Morpheus offers Neo a red pill and a blue pill? The blue pill will return Neo’s life to normal and the red pill will give him the truth.

I ask authors, if you could take the blue pill to remove all desire to write, would you take it? The pill would last forever, and all desire, all thought of writing would be gone. You wouldn’t regret not writing because the pill would remove all of those messy nostalgic thoughts of satisfaction, fame, and fortune.

99% of the writers would not take the pill. Me? I’d take it in a minute. Wash it down with some Yukon Jack. I talked about that when I interviewed myself, back when I had a soul and believed in God. Oh, wait, no, I didn’t have a soul back then.

Out of all the writers I’ve talked to, Maggie Stiefvater of Shiver fame, had the absolute best answer. I talked with her at the Colorado Teen Lit Fest after her drop-dead fabulous keynote speech.

ME: Ms. Stiefvater, if you could take a pill to remove all desire to write, would you take it?

MAGGIE STIEFVATER: Such a pill would have no affect on me.

Coolest answer ever, right?

She went on to say she wouldn’t take the pill, but that even if she took it, it wouldn’t work on her. If she didn’t have the desire to write, she would find some other artistic endeavor, even if it was ancient Chinese bubblegum crochet (my words, not hers).

Maggie Stiefvater is a natural-born artist and had written like thirty novels before she graduated high school. She is a born writer, and like all successful writers, she is a warrior. It was such a pleasure hearing her talk and meeting her.

And in all the excitement, I gave her a copy of my book. I was a bit smitten.

You can find her books everywhere, but here’s a link to her Amazon page.

When I talk with Twilight fans, I always push Shiver. Well, I did before I had a book of my own. Now I push my book, The Never Prayer, but Shiver is a close second, if they prefer werewolves to angels.

In some ways, writers like Maggie Stiefvater give me hope. Writers who write and stick with it can make it to the top. In other ways, this deepens my despair. I have to write twenty more novels and even then, my chances are iffy. I just wish I had a guarantee. But this is life, not a novel.

Which is why fiction is so much fun. Because in fiction, we can write in our own guarantees.

Thanks so much to Maggie Stiefvater for talking to me!