I don't write police stories, per se, but I usually write about areas that are very panoramic, like Harlem, or the Lower East Side, or a small urban city like Jersey City.

If I can tell you the story from beginning to end in five minutes, I'm ready to start writing.

As the industry has matured, real estate has become a very accepted investment. Institutions have used core investments to get comfortable with real estate as an asset class, and now that they're comfortable they're moving up the risk spectrum.

Writers spend three years rearranging 26 letters of the alphabet. It's enough to make you lose your mind day by day

Tremble, all ye oppressors of the world!

I write because I can't imagine not writing.

If you're writing a book that takes place in New York in the moment, you can't not write about 9-11; you can't not integrate it. My main character's view is the Statue of Liberty and the Trade Center. It doesn't have to take over, but it has to be acknowledged.