The fact that I ended up married to a decent man is still a source of amazement to me, thanks to 'The Women's Room.'

I write books for all age groups - young kids, teenagers and adults - because I get a range of different ideas.

In primary school, I was bored witless by Australian history.

I always had a soft spot for Sherlock Holmes and used to imagine helping him out.

It has occurred to me that if people really knew how software got written, I'm not sure they'd give their money to a bank or get on an airplane ever again.

I've always been covered by a press that's mostly financial press.

Listen - of course money changes everything, but so does sunlight, and so does food: These are powerful but neutral energy sources, neither inherently good nor evil but shaped only by the way we use them.

Writing on assignment, with lots of money handed to you before you even began, got very scary for me. My dread of not being perfect, something I got from a childhood surrounded by powerful, successful people, began to infect everything I wrote.