With every year that passes, I get further away from my target audience, and while I've been happy to think of myself as a father figure to these kids, I'd be a little distressed to be thought of as a grandfather figure.

A children's author on a soapbox is not a pleasant sight but I have become drawn into issues, slightly unwillingly, relating to young people, literacy and youth justice: just look at the number of young people we have locked up in prison, and the uselessness of it.

As a children's author, reviewers are generally very nice to you. I only ever wrote one adult book and received such a kicking for it that I was in trauma for the next six months.

It's hard to write when you think every sentence is going to be read by a million kids.

Just saying 'I want this and I want that' doesn't do it. My boys share and share alike in the income that the organization brings in, so that teaches them the lesson: If you work, you can earn some money. That's how life is; it's the American way.

The key to making money in angel investing is saying no. You meet with 100 companies and say no to 99 of them.

My mom was a working woman. She made more money than my dad. Both my parents worked. And this was in the '60s.

I see people like me, who thought someone like me couldn't be in politics, now are saying, 'Oh, wait, I don't need to take money from corporations to run. Maybe I'll run, too.'