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I'm mostly a historical romance reader, but I never miss a Susan Elizabeth Phillips book. Her characters are larger than life and heartbreakingly real at the same time. I don't know how she does it.

At my first library job, I worked with a woman named Sheila Brownstein, who was The Reader's Advisor. She was a short, bosomy Englishwoman who accosted people at the shelves and asked if they wanted advice on what to read, and if the answer was yes, she asked what writers they already loved and then suggested somebody new.

My publisher, who was so good as a taster and editor, when she became a writer, lo and behold, it was all this feminine tosh.

One of the most interesting female characters I've written about was Meg Riddoch, the lead character in 'The Thompson Gunner'.

I love reading about the supernatural, and time-slip novels, and the mistress of both is Barbara Erskine.

I grew up around writers, and there was always a romance to them. They were charming. They would tell their stories of what they were working on, over the table.

I also met, early on Ella Fitzgerald. Her songbooks are some of the most amazing bodies of work.

Like so many others, I came to romance during the golden age of it - Judith McNaught, Julie Garwood, Johanna Lindsey and Jude Deveraux were at the height of their historical domination. Without those women, I wouldn't be a romance novelist.

Madeleine Albright introduced herself to me. I talked to Henry Kissinger and Barbara Walters. And I asked Peter Jennings to write a note of encouragement to my son, Logan, a news anchor at the ABC affiliate in Palm Springs.