I'm a Christian, and those beliefs occasionally come out in the books.

Please give me fifty more years of work and fun, then an instant death when I'm sleeping.

I've written 17 novels, and I've found out that fiction can't keep up with real life.

Writing was not a childhood dream of mine. I do not recall longing to write as a student. I wasn't sure how to start.

We cuss them because we're not good enough for them. We hate them because they wouldn't look at us, couldn't be bothered to give us an interview. I guess there's a Trent & Brent in every city, in every field. I didn't make it and I don't belong, so I'll just go through life hating them.

I did get tired of hearing that criticism years ago. That is not a compliment. Being labeled a "beach read" is a put-down. So, I did deliberately set out to write a book, Camino Island, that would be very entertaining and compulsively readable and we published it on June 6 in time for summer vacation, hoping that people would buy it and take it to the beach.

I seriously doubt I would ever have written the first story had I not been a lawyer. I never dreamed of being a writer. I wrote only after witnessing a trial.