After spending 22 years in Ohio, I love everything about New York.

I've had a very sheltered life. What can happen to you if you stay home writing all day?

People say, 'What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?' I say, they don't really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they're gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.

Well, first you have to love writing. A lot of authors love having written. But I enjoy the actual writing. Beside that, I think the main reason I can be so prolific is the huge amount of planning I do before I start to write. I do a very complete, chapter-by-chapter outline of every book I write. When I sit down to write, I already know everything that's going to happen in the book. This means I've done all the important thinking, and I can relax and enjoy the writing. I could never write so many books if I didn't outline them first.

I have a great office.

You have no control [over natural disaster]. That's what's scary about it. You're helpless. That feeling of helplessness is really scary.

When I write, I try to think back to what I was afraid of or what was scary to me, and try to put those feelings into books.