When I was much younger, I saw a cartoon by B Kliban that I totally related to. A dog stared up at a man changing a light bulb, and thought to himself, "I could do that." Most of my life was spent mimicking that dog. And my career choices were driven less by what I wanted to do, more by not wanting to do whatever I was doing. And thinking like the dog, "I could do that [instead]?"

I'd stare at people around me and imagine myself as doctor, psychologist, bookshop-owner, cook, architect, cartoonist, novelist, time traveller, whatever. I had managed to sell a few short stories to magazines, including 2001:Science Today, Mirror, Debonair, during college.