So I asked James Rollins, who is a bestselling thriller writer and very popular, if I could do a completely UNAUTHORIZED interview with him and he agreed.

Now, James Rollins, even though he is the MAN, still has a critique group, I’m fairly certain. Not sure I could critique a superstar, but hey, I’d give it a try. Why not?

I asked what advice he had for newbies when we chatted at RT last year while he was surrounded by people, his entourage, his posse, his crew.

His advice for newbies? Get your name out there with social media. He was amazed at how much we can reach people nowadays. He started when there was no Facebook and so he thought we as writers should utilize social media as much as we could.

And of course, to write. Write always. Write when times are good. Write when times are bad. But always, keep writing no matter what.

He also said something interesting. Much of the writing business is about luck. He suggested newbie writers spread out as much as possible because you never know when lightning will strike.

It’s an interesting idea and I’ve heard others echo it. This is a magical time for those writers prolific enough to keep churning out pages, though like Sue Grafton said in my completely UNAUTHORIZED interview, you can’t take short cuts. Quality counts.

But does quality count as much as it did before the nano-second attention span? I just don’t know.

But thank you to James Rollins for chatting with me! And I wish him all the best!

Find out more about James Rollins and buy his books on his website. (Caveat: Sound happens when you click on that link.)