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I wasn't sitting around years ago thinking, 'I really want to write a novel.'

I've been writing for a long time. I sat down to write my first novel in the middle of March of 1982.

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

I've written fiction for as long as I can remember; it's always been my preferred form of play.

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

I think the novel form chose me. I was a writer before I became a criminal... my first instinct was to write.

I'm becoming more of a novelist as I get older. The novel just seems the truer form. There's less artifice involved.

At thirty-five, having spent over twenty years running varied businesses for my family, I decided to sit down and write my first novel. I had never written anything longer than a couple of pages till then and was foolishly attempting to write a hundred-thousand words.

I started out as a novelist and wrote several novels before deciding to publish one, and I fully intend to go back to the form.