People are always coming up to me with my books and saying, 'You write these things I think but I could never say.'

I went to Princeton, I minored in women's studies.

If you write thrillers or mysteries or horror fiction or quote-unquote speculative fiction, men might read you, and the 'Times' might notice you.

Every mother I've ever met, pretty much without exception, is doing the best job she can ever do.

My siblings and I had to earn our own pocket money so from the age of about 10 I had a job. I did a paper round, helped with the farmer's delivery at the weekend, cut hedges for neighbours and worked on a market stall. Then I'd go and buy a record with my hard-won money.

A success, to me, is the ability to keep working. That's success. It has nothing to do with money; it's the ability to keep getting things made, period.

By working toward a financial objective, you'll start to see the money add up for retirement or the credit card balance go down. But it doesn't have an immediate impact on your day-to-day life, and when it does - like when you're pinching pennies to save more - the immediate impact could feel negative.

London changes because of money. It's real estate. If they can build some offices or expensive apartments they will, it's money that changes everything in a city.