None of my clients are criminals, but to a much lighter degree that's what goes on. I hear the story, and I hear it with the level of detail that breeds empathy.

I don't think you can take a whole genre of very popular books and say, "This is all trash!" When we read a memoir that isn't by a celebrity, we feel like we're about to go on a journey and we don't know where the journey will lead. But when we read a memoir by a celebrity we feel like we already know the journey and we just want to travel it.

I think one of the big things that's come out of ghostwriting for me is real compassion for the complexity of fame.

Lizzie Pepper is pure fiction! The character is pulled from tabloids. But I think we all look at celebrity marriages and invest in them.

I'm so used to being separate from the publication process. I turn in the book to the editor and then I'm done.

We exploit celebrities by caring about shallow things like whether they've gotten a facelift. And we violate their children constantly. But we also love them in a way.

Working with somebody who has a more interesting life than I do - and getting to take on that life temporarily - is an endlessly interesting way to have the experience of writing memoir.