Nothing beats weaving through the rush-hour traffic or whizzing past the eternal gridlock that is the Strand.

I'm always running my mouth off and getting myself in trouble, so I'm trying to do it less.

Once you start cycling, the city opens up for you. No longer are you fighting it, hot and frustrated; no longer are you at the mercy of bus drivers, roadworks, decisions made by others and over which you have no control. Believe me, once you've tasted this freedom, you're hooked.

Don't start writing your novel until you know your characters very, very well. What they'd do if they saw somebody shoplifting. What they were like at school. What shoes they wear. Spend days - weeks, months - being them until they thicken up and start to breathe.

There's not an instruction manual on how to deal with success, so you just have to rely on having great friends and a good team.

Don't confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.

I don't think about my previous success. I'm happy that the work I've done has been very successful.

In the United States, I am a great success, but I am not a celebrity.