I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted.

A pen connects you to the paper. It definitely matters.

I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.

A friend of mine who is in the publishing business knew I was writing a book, and he said, 'Have you said anything yet about the good guy? Because I know you spend so much time with the bad guys.' Because they're fun. So then you have to make the good guy fun, in order to compete. That's the challenge.

Everyone has his own sound. I'm not going to presume how to tell anybody how to write.

I don't want the reader to be aware of me as the writer.

I think any writer is a fool if he doesn't do it for money. There needs to be some kind of incentive in addition to the project. It all goes together. It's fun to sit there and think of characters and get them into action, then be paid for it. I can't believe it when writers tell me 'I don't want to show my work to anybody'.