Young writers shouldn't be afraid of striving to emulate their favorites. It's a good way to learn, as long as you move on from it and don't publish too many of the results.

My childhood may have been more demented than most, because I learned to read very early and was allowed to read whatever I wanted.

My mother is an office manager, my father a professor of economics and financial planner.

There are people who must spend huge amounts of time composing these online diatribes against me, all about how disgusting and terrible I am and how no one should ever read my books, and it's not enough for them to hate me, they can't stand the fact that ANYONE likes me!

I'd much rather do an obviously commercial writing project than get a day job.

New Orleans cuisine is Creole rather than Cajun.

Delete nothing. Move nothing. Change nothing. Learn everything.