An interview in my study conducted by my son, G. Calvin Miller, on Feb. 3, 2008. Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Chz7VR0Wsw

Calvin: When did you decide that you wanted to become a writer? What do you think, growing up, influenced your decision to become a writer? Me: My mother used to sit me down, and I actually enjoyed this despite my other feelings about my mother, which we won't get into here. You can read the book. She used to sit me down, and we'd start through the dictionary, starting at A and go right through, and I don't think we ever finished, but I remember aardvark was the first word, and abalone was the second. But reading and writing were very important in my household, so that's where it came from. Calvin: Did you plan out how you were going to become a writer, or was it sort of a play -by -ear thing? Me; It was not planned out. It was serendipity, which is, I guess, another way of saying play by ear. It just kind of happened. But again, I always liked writing, so it wasn't a question of like I woke up one day and went, ooh, I think I like writing. Calvin: What was your first writing piece to ever be published? Me: It was a story about a blizzard in 1978, which was published in my very small hometown newspaper, the Wakefield Daily Item. And I was living in Boston at that time. And I wrote sort of an essay about what it was like being in Boston at that time, and it was a horrible piece of crap. I didn't start off. But they liked it, so. Actually, I did at the time. I read it now, as I have actually in the last few years, and it's like loaded with cliches. Calvin: You just answered three of my questions. Me: Well, there you go. We're moving right through this. The lead of that story was the plane sat at Logan like wounded dinosaurs. I remember that. It's like you can't get much worse than that. Calvin: How do you know what a wounded dinosaur looks like? Me: I have no idea. I'm just poetic. I told you it was awful. Not as bad as my high school poetry, which we won't ever get into, although I still have some of it. In one of these yearbooks, actually, I was like the poetry person. Calvin: Do you ever read your own writing for enjoyment? Me: No. Calvin: No? Me: No. Never. I mean, I'll read a newspaper piece after, but even in terms of books, no. I've never read one of my books. After the editing, obviously. Calvin: Well, then, do you believe that you're a good writer? Me: I think I'm a decent writer. I mean, I've had some success at it. You know, let other people decide. Calvin: Who do you look up to as a writer? Me: My immediate answer is Stephen King, who I've loved forever and ever since his second book. Actually, I didn't read his first. And there are a lot of non -fiction writers that I really admire, too. Jonathan Har is one of them. Richard Rhodes. Christopher Buckley. I could go on, but those are among the ones I like. Calvin: Why don't you write horror, then, if your favorite author is a horror writer? Me: My first book was a horror novel. But then I sort of got off into doing non -fiction books. But I actually wrote a horror story last summer. It wasn't bad. First one I'd written in a long time. Calvin: Do you enjoy writing non -fiction? Seems kind of boring to me. Me: I enjoy writing non -fiction. I enjoy it a lot. I probably like fiction better, but I'm not feeding you on my fiction, so let's put it that way. here's a money aspect to this. My fiction has never sold well, or at all. Some have sold it. Calvin: Have you ever started writing a book and then just decided that it wasn't worth it or it wasn't a good idea and stopped? Would you say that being a writer is easy or hard? Me: If it's your career path and you want to make money, don't go into it. You kind of don't choose it. I know that sounds groovy. Calvin: You feel you're compelled to do it. Do you honestly enjoy being a writer? Me: Yes. I can't imagine doing anything else except making films now. But that all is part of the same process. Calvin: What was your second choice if you failed becoming a writer? Me: I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. Calvin: And you chose writer? Me: I did. And here's what happened. My first week at college, I went to Harvard planning to be a neurosurgeon. My first week, I get into this upper-class creative writing course. And they let in one or two undergrads. You had to compete for it. And I got in. It was like, that was cool. And I looked at all the study it would take [in pre-med], all the science and statistics and biochemistry and stuff. I'm sure you think it's a bad career choice, given that you don't have a pony or something. Which I can't afford to buy. Do you want a pony? I don't think he wants a pony. Calvin: How do you think your life would be different if you'd never become a writer? Me: I'd be bored. I'm not bored very often. Calvin: I don't think being a neurosurgeon would be very boring. Me: Have you seen neurosurgery? Calvin: No. Me: I have. It's boring. And by the way, you have to be really good at it, or as the old saying goes, oops, there go the piano lessons. It's an old neurosurgical joke. But I have seen it several times, actually. The chief of neurosurgery at Children's Hospital and the Brigham and Women's Hospital [allowed me]. Calvin: Does the place or the atmosphere in which you write affect your writing? Like, say, writing in this room versus writing in a hospital? Me: Yes, absolutely. Yep, absolutely. I write best in this room, and I'm less productive elsewhere, especially in a newsroom where people are constantly talking. It's hard to write anything serious there, although you can write silly little -ass stuff. Calvin: What about your mood? Like, for example, how is your writing different when you're angry than when you're happy? Sometimes writing, like, can ease anger. Me: That's an interesting question. I never thought about it. Mood obviously affects the quality of what you're writing, but I've never really analyzed what mood leads to what quality of writing. Calvin: How has your writing changed throughout your life, like the style or the way in which you write? Me: I've gotten less cliched, and I've realized that I'm not a stylist. Some people are. I have a friend at the New York Times, Dan Barry, who's a great stylist. He can turn a phrase. I'm not good at that. So I realized that my strengths were sort of narrative and structure and detail. Calvin: What did you major in in college? Me: English. And other activities that we don't need to go into. English, by the way, is a great major for the other activities. It buys you time. Calvin: Do you think that your major, English, has significantly helped or altered your writing? Me: Yes. It deepened my appreciation for reading and literature and writing. Now, you can't learn how to be a good writer. Calvin: No, you can't. Me: And that's absolutely true. I think people who take writing courses and, you know, past a certain point, it's just bullsh**. The way to learn to write is to write and to read. Calvin: Have you ever tried writing poetry instead of prose? Me: Yes, in high school. I mentioned earlier, I won't embarrass myself, but it's awful. And I do respect poetry, but I certainly can't do it. Calvin: Why do you write? Me: Because you feel compelled. Because if I don't, I get antsy and weird. You do it to exorcise demons, maybe. Calvin: Well, thank you, Wayne. Me: Thank you, George Calvin. That would be my son.