"If I'd written my first novel 20 years ago, I'd still be trying to
get it published today. It would have emerged tortured, humourless,
and overlong; a thinly disguised autobiography attracting enough
rejection to cause permanent psychological damage.

I wouldn't have learned brevity, lateral thinking, or the many
practical applications of a distinctly flawed personality. I might
never have learned that there are a million ways to skin a cat, or
write a sex scene. Above all, I wouldn't have had the pleasure of not
working in advertising - possibly the best thing about writing book"

source:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,6000,1355131,00.h\
tml?gusrc=rss