Discipline can best be acquired through unpopularity. If nobody wants to play with you, there is little else for you to do but read and write. And if you really make yourself unpopular, you will probably end up being a fine writer-with an immense disregard for society and respectability. Personally, I haven't much faith in ivory towers. I've learned a lot in a barnyard.
Writing is the loneliest occupation there is.
I don't know from one second to the next what a character is going to say or do. I keep them within certain bounds because I know where they have to go. I like for my characters to entertain me. If the characters and their story entertain me, my ego is sufficient to allow me to believe they will entertain others as well. I am never completely satisfied and never expect to be.