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I used to think that what scared me was the idea of being abandoned until someone said to me, 'Only children can be abandoned. Adults can't be abandoned because we have a choice. Children don't have a choice.'

I have been afraid all my life that I am going to die. All my life it has been stuffed in my imagination.

From nine years old, I lived with fear. I saw our neighbours disappearing. I was scared that I would come home from school and my parents would not be there.

I had a fear of being alone.

The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.

I think my whole life, because of where I came from, I had a fear of failure.

I was afraid of not living up to what people expected me to be.

The first several years of my life were used to upload incredible amounts of fear, and I just became afraid of everything. I was afraid of my parents, afraid of my classmates, afraid of the streets of Washington, D.C. I would flinch at every gesture.

Whatever hardships there have been in my life I still live in a very privileged position. Fear is not knowing where your next meal is coming from. Fear is seeing a child get hurt. Fear is watching someone you love waste away. Fear is knowing you are going to die yourself. But there's no fear in what I do. I write books.

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.