It's this idea that success changes you as a person... I've never seen my career that way.

I am a bit of a head-in-the-sand person as concerns things happening beyond the walls of my study. And I don't feel particularly guilty about that. I figure that my primary job is producing the very best stories I am capable of writing, and that is what I concentrate upon doing. That is within my control.

I fancy the romantic image of myself being soothed and inspired by music and the sweet aroma and flickering lights of candles.

I do what I love and what I always dreamed of doing for a living. I write love stories, and I have always had a publisher willing to publish them. I have a sizable and loyal audience. I have made best-seller lists and won awards. What more could anyone ask for?

Success and money can really be quite blinding.

I have no problem with the people who work hard to get success. But I think people are very jealous about success. I work very hard and they don't appreciate that.

It makes me very happy when I create goals or score goals myself, but the most important thing is that the team reaches its goal and plays positive football.

I love kite surfing and mountain bike riding. It's kind of interesting; my kite surfing ability has probably deteriorated with the rate of Kaggle's success.