For me, I was given a great gift by my father and my mother in that I was never told any idea was bad. I was told I could explore any thought as long as I wasn't hurting someone else.

I think that laughter is very close to terror and horror. Maybe that's just me, but that sort of all - over rush that happens when you are either laughing or terrified or weeping...? I think that comedians, in and of themselves, make other people laugh because they aren't necessarily the happiest people in the world. So they know a lot about dark things.

I'm a huge fan of Akira Kurosawa, a big Hitchcock fan.

('Eraserhead') may seem like a dark film, but my father and I watch it, and all we do is laugh. It was Disneyland everyday on the set. That's when I fell in love with film.

Trust yourself so that the mistakes you make are the ones you've made and not something you've made because you were afraid to do what you wanted to do. Own your mistakes, then you can own your successes.

Writing was my companion and stories were my companion when I was bedridden and didn't think I was going to walk again and all of that treacherous stuff. And stories are how you can comfort a child. It's certainly how I comforted my daughter, in good and bad times.

My life is perfectly happy and giggly and I'm perfectly grateful every day; if there are problems to have, the ones I have are the ones to have; I'm lucky.