My father was judgmental and kind of mean, and I'm like that. And he was very perfectionistic, and I'm like that. And he was very hard on himself, and I'm like that.

You have to have a somewhat cold heart to be a writer.

I don't have a whole bunch of literary connections. I don't write reviews or attend writer's conferences. I'm kind of shy and don't want to go to a party. I just want to stay home and read my murder mysteries and try to write and cook dinner.

All I knew growing up was that my father was married to and loved my momma, period. He worked hard, made some money, and put it on the dresser. She spent it on the family, and he went out and earned some more. He taught me the most about love.

I Skype my mum every day. Everyone in my family does creative things, so it's nice to have that support.

My mother was madly adventurous. My father was an actor - he worked with Gielgud - and my mother came from a very wealthy family. She definitely wasn't meant to marry an actor, but she eloped with him one lunch-time.

I think some cases are different than others, but all of the child actors that I have encountered, as well as myself, are real kids. I mean we do all the things that kids do. We're normal. We just like to do different things. We like to act and make people feel happy or sad, but we're 'real' people.