I never played inside as a kid - even in the rain I'd go out.

I've been getting into Nick Drake lately, the folk singer. Sad, gorgeous stuff.

I do fish. I think there is a connection between thinking and fishing mostly because you spend a lot of time up to your waist in water without a whole lot to keep your mind busy.

For me, writing historical fiction is all about finding a balance between reading, traveling, looking, imagining, and dreaming.

You bury your childhood here and there. It waits for you, all your life, to come back and dig it up.

So how, children, does the brain, which lives without a spark of light, build for us a world full of light?

I found my first novel difficult. I don't want to make it sound like it's any more difficult than driving a cab or going to any other job, but there are so many opportunities for self-doubt, that you just kind of need to soldier on.