Biting's excellent. It's like kissing - only there is a winner.

There are so many places we have not yet seen. So many people still to meet.

The biggest pitfall to avoid is not writing. Not writing is really, really easy to do, especially if you're a young writer. The hope that elves will come in the night and finish it for you, is a very common one to have. That is my main recommendation - you have to write, and you have to finish what you write and beyond that, it's all detail.

Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them.

Fear is contagious. You can catch it.

If ever you get to be my age," said the old woman, "you will know all there is to know about regrets, and you will know that one more, here or there, will make no difference in the long run.

That's sexism, that is. Going around giving people girly presents just because they're a girl.