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I like to take writing retreats within a day's drive of home. Less travel time means more time for writing, which is the name of the game here.

Travelling is a great time to catch up on my reading. It's hard falling asleep in new places, but a good book always makes it easier.

Writing can be fun. I think the challenge is to convey interesting things in accessible ways, and that's what I aim to do in books.

I really enjoy writing novels. It's like the ocean. You can just build a boat and take off.

Being a writer usually entails a fairly quiet life. However much travel one might do, however many tours and appearances, the job entails solitude: long hours in libraries, long hours at a desk.

I don't normally have time to read, so when I go away I like to take a few books.

I work on one book at a time. And yes, I am immersed. Six days a week for four to six hours a day. In between books, I stop writing for as much as two to three months, but during that time, I do research and think, plot and plan the book.

Writing a book is a very lonely business. You are totally cut off from the rest of the world, submerged in your obsessions and memories.