That's the past for you. Not only does it come back at the most unexpected, and inconvenient, times but it's set in stone.

People with children and people with their own business always pick up a ringing phone.

Trying to write books with a subject matter or in a genre or style you're not familiar with is the best way to find the Big Block looming.

And life changes. Maybe just a little, maybe a lot. And at some point, it just isn't worth the fight to fix it.

In general, I think, less is more, and that if a reader stops reading because a book is too icky then I've failed in my obligation to the readers.

Generally my typical books have lots of twists and turns a big surprise ending and then usually another surprise at the end and ideally, as in Garden of Beasts, we get to the very end and we find at the last few pages that there's yet another surprise.

In suspense novels even subplots about relationships have to have conflict.