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I'm a fast writer.

I write pretty quickly. Write pretty fast. I was an old press service man. That was part of the necessity of that occupation.

Journalism is literature in a hurry.

I'm a fast writer, and crime novels are easy to do. It's much harder to write a 1,000 word article, where everything has to be 100 per cent correct.

If I weren't a writer, I think I might have thrown myself more enthusiastically into advertising. But, it's difficult to imagine being a diligent copywriter. It would be quite exasperating for me.

Since I make my living as a literary journalist, not a book scout, I spend inordinate amounts of time either reading or writing.

I had an insanely long commute - New York to D.C. - when I worked at 'National Geographic.' I hate to waste time, so I spent my time by writing about my life on the premise that I might be able to pitch those as short essays to magazines. It wasn't until later that I realized that I was writing a book.

When you're a mid-list writer, it pays to write fast.

I kind of like to write fast. It keeps the pacing up. And it keeps me off the streets.