I'm a commercial writer, not an author. Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book.

Mike Hammer drinks beer because I can't spell Cognac.

I try to stay in good physical shape, I don't smoke, I don't drink.

If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.

If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes.

If I need something, I'll invent it.

I'm the most translated writer in the world, behind Lenin, Tolstoy, Gorki and Jules Verne. And they're all dead.