All of us write wish fulfillment.

Writing is showbusiness for shy people. That's how I see it.

I grew up in Birmingham, where they made useful things and made them well.

Many years from now when your children ask what New York City was like just after 9/11, this will be the book you give them in response. It's an exquisite novel full of heart, soul, passion and intelligence, and it's the one this great New York author was born to write.

Evaluate. Long experience had taught me to evaluate and assess. When the unexpected gets dumped on you, don’t waste time. Don’t figure out how or why it happened. Don’t recriminate. Don’t figure out whose fault it is. Don’t work out how to avoid the same mistake next time. All of that you do later. If you survive.

People who wear glasses, without them they always look unfocused, vulnerable. Out in the open. A layer removed.

I have three desks. One empty for paperwork, one for the internet and email, and one for the writing computer.