At an early school, when I was about 5, they asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. Everyone said silly things, and I said I wanted to be an actress. So that was what I wanted to be, but what I was, of course, was a writer.

We all have our dreams. May we find them, and God have mercy on us when we do.

Whatever the hell I am, I am Me.

It was not apathy. It was an intelligent disinterest in those things that could have no bearing on one's existence.

As a child, my mother told me lots of fairy stories, many her own invention. She, too, tended to reverse the norm.

Pirates have always fascinated me.

If you run away from trouble, it always follows.' Rather my impression, too. Though that never stopped me trying.