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I don't want to say I took myself too seriously, but I put a lot of pressure on myself coming out of school. I saw so many people leave the business behind, certain opportunities disappear for folks who had to go into other professions. That kind of terrified me. As a result, I wanted things to happen really quickly.

I chose to go to law school because I thought that someday, somehow I'd make a difference.

I was a good student - a geek, really - editor of the school paper, thought I was going to go to university.

I was just a goofy little funny kid, who was always getting sent to the principal. It wasn't serious because I was smart. I wasn't like a true troublemaker, just rambunctious - like, talkative and trying to be funny. That was me in middle-school.

As a youngster, I had friends who became lawyers and doctors, and I was as idealistic as anybody. When I was in the Army, I read a book by Adlai Stevenson. He said law was as noble as saving a person's life. So at one point, I felt that way, too. But after a while, I said, 'Let me just finish the degree. I'm getting the G.I. Bill.'

I was a very, very serious child... I was valedictorian of my kindergarten and eighth-grade class.

I had to get good grades and do well in school - my mother was an assistant principal and my father was a teacher - and they took this very seriously.

I always say, and I mean it, that the great break of my literary career was when I went to law school.