I'm alone and outgunned, scared and inexperienced, but I'm right.

I was tired of secrets, tired of seeing things I was not supposed to see. And so I just cried.

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 always do book signings with the same blue pen. That way, if I add a personalised message to a book I've already signed, it'll be in the same colour as my signature.

I looked at her and tried to speak, but all I could think about was how shocked she'd be if I said what I was thinking.

I grew up in a very small, close-knit, Southern Baptist family, where everything was off-limits. So I couldn't wait to get to college and have some fun. And I did for the first two years. And I regret a lot of it, because my grades were in terrible shape.

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