Agents are essential, because publishers will not read unsolicited manuscripts.

I wake up in the morning and I still have a passion for what I do, and I'll be doing it when I'm 105, I'll be scribbling away. If it was 100 years ago I'd be sitting by the campfire, saying, "Have I got a story to tell you."

If you wrote a page a day, at the end of the year you would have a book. Whether it's any good or not is beside the point, but you would have a book, instead of just talking about it all the time.

I write about the American dream: if you set your mind to do something, you can do it. My fans know they're getting the real thing.

I write about real people in disguise. If anything, my characters are toned down-the truth is much more bizarre.

My biggest critics have never read me.

I've never been on safari because I've got a phobia of bugs. I just don't want things crawling on me when I'm sleeping. It's a shame given my passion for big cats. But I really enjoy photography, so I'd love to photograph leopards in the wild some day.