The biggest fatal flaw in most fictional portrayals of nanotech - what sends those books arcing across the room - is ignoring that the nanobots need energy to do... anything.
Science works as a way to make sense of life and the universe. Hard SF as my preferred fictional genre just feels natural.
The scope of what I have to say determines the length of what I write.
I was only eight when Sputnik was launched, and at that age the boundary between science and fiction is pretty blurry. Whichever way the process ran, I've been a fan of science and SF ever since.
One doesn't just wander unvetted into someone else's epic interstellar future history.
Collaboration is a nice change of pace from the often solitary nature of the writer's craft.
