I've got a long list of books I wish I'd never written-and I've kept them all out of print for the past 20 years.

Nothing is worse than being alone on the evening of the day when one's cow has exploded.

I do give books as gifts sometimes, when people would rather have one than a new Ferrari.

Love and sausage are alike. Can never have enough of either.

If I waited until I felt creative, I would never have had a career. I long ago learned that a day that starts out badly, when nothing comes out on the page or comes out wrong, can suddenly turn into a good day a few hours later, when suddenly everything starts to click. The brain can be cajoled into being creative.

Authors of so-called 'literary' fiction insist that action, like plot, is vulgar and unworthy of a true artist. Don't pay any attention to misguided advice of that sort. If you do, you will very likely starve trying to live on your writing income. Besides, the only writers who survive the ages are those who understand the need for action in a novel.

I don't write a quick draft and then revise; instead, I work slowly page by page, revising and polishing.