I spend eight months outlining and researching the novel before I begin to write a single word of the prose.

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

The outline is 95 percent of the book. Then I sit down and write, and that's the easy part.

Hardcover books are fairly expensive these days and to read one requires a significant commitment of time in our busy society. So I want to make sure that when readers buy one of my books they get something they're familiar with.

I also try very hard to create characters - both heroes and villains - with psychological depth.

I spend eight months outlining and researching the novel before I begin to write a single word of the prose.

People want to avoid the past. I suppose that's natural. When we tally up all we've said and done over the years, despite the wonderful memories, the regrets may be fewer but stand out more prominently, glowing coals that we can never quite extinguish, try though we might