‘If I write another rhyming picture book, my head will explode.’

You can read interviews with the five finalists for the National Book Award here.

What was interesting to me was that many of them said they had to break away from previous ideas about how they work (one thought he was supposed to write short stories, one rhyming picture books, one Star Wars novelizations) before they could write the book that went on to be on the short list for the National Book Award.