I sometimes use some personality traits to fashion part of a character. Most of my characters are composites of either people I know or people in the public eye.

There is no terra incognito left.

Chemical and biological attacks are scary and will kill a lot of people but dont rise to the level of nuclear.

Kate had never been married, so she had no way of knowing if I was a normal husband. This has been good for our marriage.

I thought to myself, what is everyone's worst fear? Nuclear terrorism in America.

…made me promise to cut down on the drinking and swearing, which I have. Unfortunately, this has left me dim-witted and nearly speechless.

I do write my manuscripts by hand, in pencil on legal pads. Then they are typed on a word processor by my typist.