I love research so much that I do an enormous amount; it helps put off the moment of starting to write the story.

My feeling is that writing is, for me, a pathological condition. That could sound like a mystical experience, and it may be a mystical experience, but I have learnt just to go with it.

My background is deep and set in deep time, and in a narrow space, oral traditions going back a long, long time, which I inherited by osmosis.

My attitude is that if anybody of any age wants to read a book, let them, but I do think that no child would want to read 'Boneland.'

The breakdown of the American family's having a disastrous impact on our economy.

When you go into to vacationing with kids, what people don't get is that there is a portion of it that's going to be unpleasant because you're traveling with children. When people have these expectations that it's going to be perfect or amazing, that has never been my experience.

Years ago, I tore out a Nike ad featuring Allyson Felix and Maria Sharapova looking super fierce and tough. I always told my family that I wanted to be like them someday, so to come home to my apartment and see boxes of Nike gear stacked higher than my doorknob is pretty much a dream come true.

As long as you understand that you find happiness through family, friends and love, then money is just a nice bonus.