Growing up, I was never the kind of girl to dream about wedding dresses and pretty houses.

When I'm up on stage, I don't think about anything except the song I'm singing. Anyway, the majority of my audience is female, and I can't think that many of them want to see me a French maid outfit somehow!

New Zealand was one of the most beautiful countries to drive through for the scenery and the vast scale of the place.

If you feel uncomfortable about something, just because you're in the public eye, it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when people say things.

I didn't survive because I was stronger than others. I survived because my family and friends helped me to survive. They took my place. My job is to give them back their dignity, tell their story, and say their names.

I wrote for years before I was ever published, and I don't think I could ever stop. That said, I was also a veterinarian before I sold my first book, and I still volunteer my time to help with animal welfare causes. So that is a career I would be happy to return to - while still secretly writing strange stories back in my doctor's office.

I'm a father, a son, and a grandson, and if anyone messed with my wife, mom, or grandmother, and if the law didn't care about it, what would I do? Would I be defined by that action?

My father was a military judge, and my mother was a psychiatric social worker. My brother and sister and I were moved around constantly, in and outside the U.S., living in Germany for much of our teens.