I don't think anyone will believe me, but I've never been pressured by a publisher to churn out a book.

Maybe it has something to do with being a reporter for a long time that I don't look to newspapers and television and so forth for inspiration most of the time.

That's the irony in the work: the best stories are the worst things that happen. My best times were somebody else's worst.

The writing ethic was influenced - when you have to write every day, there's no such thing as writer's block.

To write more from memory and to be more creative - I think - because I am still writing about Los Angeles but I can't walk out my door and immediately drive to places I am writing about. So I think it has been a very good change for me after 11 books to start writing this way.

Write every day even if it is just a paragraph.

There is nothing you can do about the past except keep it there.