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I wrote my first book when I was in my late thirties.

My first book was the book that changed my life.

I was incredibly lucky that my first book found a large and loyal readership. It changed my life - from being a very withdrawn adult to living in Paris as a full-time writer. It has also given me enormous confidence.

I was extraordinarily lucky. I wrote a book because I wanted to see if I could write a mystery. Someone nagged me into sending it to a contest, which it won, after which I was offered a two-book contract, thus requiring the writing of a second book.

Last week I was just someone who had had a first novel published.

The first book I did - the first successful book - was a kind of a travel book, and publishers in Britain encouraged me to do more.

I really absolutely loved writing my first book.

The first book that they gave me was Jeannie, a young teenager. I went on with her maybe ten books.

I began writing seriously in my mid-20s and didn't publish my first book until I was 41.

My first book is really comparable to what I do now, where it's pretty surreal and strange at moments, but that being my first book - I wrote that when I was 22; it came out when I was 24 - and it was just really overwritten. I just didn't trust myself as a writer to say something once.