I think of myself as a storyteller, and that is it.

Writing is writing, and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are fiction and nonfiction. And even there, who can be sure?

Writers tell stories better, because they've had more practice, but everyone has a book in them. Yes, that old cliche.

Pirates have always fascinated me.

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.

How massively the mountains stand, while low to the ground the sand blows. The sand blows on and on. And then there are no mountains, none at all, the sand has kissed and whispered them away. And still, the sand blows on.

It gets cold in the desert at night, particularly up in the mountains; the stars hammer on the rock and strike frost.