I've finally reached a stage in my career where I can do what I want.

You have to have honesty to the product. You have to meet consumer expectations. You give them value for their money and give them a product that they need. I don't see anything wrong with all these things. And I don't think it's a bad thing to meet consumers' expectations.

I had done 12 little romance books, and I decided I wanted to move into crime fiction.

What I realized halfway through writing romance is that you start out intuitive, and you make all these choices mostly based on yourself and what you like and what talent you have, and... if you want to have any quality control over your product, you have to stop being intuitive and start being more of an analyst.

As a lifelong romance reader, it's always satisfying to get to talk to other romance readers!

I think I tried to control situations within my first marriage and I wasn't the easiest person to live with.

As a car lover, I ask myself, 'What am I going to be buying in the future? Will it be a boring, underpowered, dorky car because the government tells me I shouldn't pollute? Or do I come up with a cool-looking, sexy dream car that is also part of the future?'

You don't even really get used to doing scenes where you have to kiss, or be particularly intimate, with another person who's not actually your lover in real life.