I am dismayed to realize that much of the advice I used to parcel out to aspiring writers has passed its sell-by date.

Most writing doesn’t take place on the page; it takes place in your head.

Now we're e-mailing and tweeting and texting so much, a phone call comes as a fresh surprise. I get text messages on my cell phone all day long, and it warbles to alert me that someone has sent me a message on Facebook or a reply or direct message on Twitter, but it rarely ever rings.

The one thing I've discovered about social media is that people love answering questions. In fact, it sometimes feels like at any given moment, millions of people are online who have been waiting for exactly the question you fire off.

I think the responsibility of running a huge business, which happens if you become a successful designer, probably makes you more careful.

Why, I wonder, should the popularity of a news story matter to me? Does it mean it's a good story or just a seductive one?

There will always be vain, obsessive people who want to own rare and extraordinary things whatever the cost; there will always be people for whom owning beautiful, dangerous animals brings a sense of power and magic.