When it comes time to write the book itself I'll shut the lights out, picture the scene I'm about to write then close my eyes and go at it. Yes, I can touch type.

We have years to converse with someone, to blurt and rant, to explain our desires and anger and regrets - and oh how we squander those moments.

In other words, the people who populate my books are more than caricatures.

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

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.

Too much screaming in Congress. Too much screaming everywhere.

I've often said that there's no such thing as writer's block; the problem is idea block. When I find myself frozen-whether I'm working on a brief passage in a novel or brainstorming about an entire book-it's usually because I'm trying to shoehorn an idea into the passage or story where it has no place.