Well, whatever it was, | couldn't stop. Positive obsession is<br>about not being able to stop just because you're afraid and<br>full of doubts. Positive obsession is dangerous. It's about<br>not being able to stop at all<br><br>1 was twenty-three when, finally | sold my first two short<br>stories. | sold both to writer-editors who were teaching at<br>Clarion, a science-fiction writers’ workshop that | was.<br>attending. One story was eventually published. The other<br>wasn't. | didn't sell another word for five years. Then, finally,<br>I sold my first novel. Thank God no one told me selling<br>would take so long—not that | would have believed it. I've<br>sold eight novels since then. Last Christmas, | paid off the<br>mortgage on my mother's house.<br>