Meredith asked Lev Grossman:

Hi Lev! Your story about writerly isolation in the "How Not To Write Your First Novel" article on Buzzfeed recalled many details you used in the more "training montage" sections of The Magicians. It seems that you don't subscribe to the idea of shutting yourself away to try to master a skill or produce a piece of work - so what's your current writing process and how have you sought to develop your writing skills?

Lev Grossman Because I have a job, and three children, I write mostly in bits of interstitial time: on the subway, while kids are napping, while a babysitter watches the kids, and so on. So my writing process definitely isn't isolated (I'm in earshot of a crying child right now -- fortunately my wife is handling this one.) The skills I've most developed are 1) using time well -- sitting down and writing without preliminary futzing around, and 2) working on my books when I'm away from my desk, i.e. thinking about them in spare moments, even when I can't be writing.

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