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Often, writer's block will occur when I don't understand a character or his/her motivations. So I will make notes analysing characters.

I try to think of it not as writer's block, but a time where you just need to live life and experience things so you have something to write about.

Everything I write is based on something I've personally experienced, or things that my friends have experienced that I just find horribly entertaining.

When I'm writing a novel, I'm usually just trying to write about things that are interesting to me.

When you're a writer, everything that interests you feeds into your work.

I write a lot about disadvantaged people, particularly vulnerable children, because I feel that that's who I was. That is familiar terrain for me. And I try to write about things that are very close to me because I want people to feel the passion that I have for the subject.

I love to write what I see and what I do and what I experience, and I like to see if people can relate to that. I don't know if I am as good at making up a story in my head that has no truth to it, so that is a challenge for me.

Most things I go through I have to write about.

I mostly write about the working poor. Somehow, they're not being written about much anymore. I'm very interested in people who are in a situation that needs a little puzzling out. The thing that gets me started on a story is a person in a tough situation.

I write and draw from the gut. I often don't know what my stories are about until they're done.