I need to stay in the present and use that new-age mantra: 'I'm okay right now.' But I worry about all the things I'm failing at every moment.

I enjoy both TV writing and novel writing, and they are very similar. The goal is to entertain and amuse the audience, and I subscribe to this P.G. Wodehouse piece of advice: "Try to give pleasure with every sentence."

A lot of writing is a form of seeing - putting down what you see in terms of action and landscape.

Personally, I've never had it as a goal in life to be happy. Seems impossible to achieve. Even the Declaration of Independence seems to acknowledge this. They talk about the pursuit of happiness, not happiness itself.

I'm actually much more shy and self-conscious than people's perception of me.

Mostly I have to try to censor myself so as not to write things that will hurt other people, or that will go too far.

A lot of readers have actually helped me, been really sweet to me... So maybe my cry for help has sometimes been answered.