Being in the Marine Corps was the best thing that ever happened to me. It can do a lot for a young guy. I owe a lot to the Marine Corps. If I had a son, I'd want him to be a Marine.
I think writer is a word without gender, and a good writer observes, absorbs, hopefully empathizes then translates that into character and story. You don’t have to do or be or have experienced, traveled to, but you have to imagine all of that, very well–and believe it completely during the bubble of the work.