I'm wary of the whole Los Angeles scene. I'm a California kid, but there's a difference between California and Los Angeles. L.A. is urban. California is restorative.

I want to sit and be less career oriented. Snowboard, dirt bike, mountain bike, surf. Just be human. To me, that's an important part of life.

One of the questions I get asked a lot is, 'What do you do to stay in shape?' My glib answer is, 'I play.' But I mean it. Sure, I go to the gym, but I don't spend my life there. Most of my activity is outdoors, whether it's basketball or mountain biking or rock climbing.

I didn't want children until my late thirties because my career was taking off, and I was having such a good time in New Order. But when you have children, you have to make decisions; I always wanted to stay at home with my kids.

I think that... discrimination in the job market is a very important area where work needs to be done.

My job is to create myself a career that I can go to sleep satisfied with what I'm doing.

I care a great deal about LGBT U.S. servicemen and women being able to serve openly and honestly. Since early in my career, I've included realistic LGBT characters in my books. The idea that a gay Navy SEAL had to hide who he was in order to serve was a terrible one - and I made sure my readers knew that!