Jessica asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

My dad introduced me to your work 20 years ago, when I was a preteen, and it’s been a very important part of my life-thank you! In Memory I’m always struck by the idea that questions don’t change, just the answers, and my yearly rumination on that thought represents emotional tree rings. How has your response to your own work changed over time?

Lois McMaster Bujold That's a very large question to answer in this tiny typing box... Year by year, I abandon old work and engage with new, so the older stuff would fade to a complete blur if it weren't for me needing to proofread reprints, which brings them back on the tide. I only wince some... I am certainly not the same person I was in 1982 when I began writing.

My response to reader-response has shifted to a more relaxed mode, as I am not so anxious to make-or-break it. This is all to the good.

The quote you mention was actually taken from a remark by my dad, who taught engineering, about why he didn't have to worry about cribbing in the tests he gave his students.

Ta, L.

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