One of my favourite parts of writing is doing the research. It's the door into that magical reading/writing state - the raw material for making the story real.

It is through our extended family that we first learn to compromise and come to an understanding that even if we don't always agree about things we can still love and look out for each other.

I always thought that bagels and lox was my soul food, but it turns out it's sushi.

Something I notice speaking to writers from south of Hadrians Wall is that the culture is different. At base, I think Scotland values its creative industries differently from England.

I jealously guard my research time and I love fully immersing myself in those dusty old books and papers. It's one of the most enjoyable parts of my job.

The sky was a sparkling succession of black diamonds on black velvet made crystal clear by the blackout.

I believe the era of the militant lady is back.

Without archives many stories of real people would be lost, and along with those stories, vital clues that allow us to reflect and interpret our lives today.

Research material can turn up anywhere - in a dusty old letter in an archive, a journal or some old photographs you find in a charity shop.

Writers of novels live in a strange world where what's made up is as important as what's real.

Books have a vital place in our culture. They are the source of ideas, of stories that engage and stretch the imagination and most importantly, inspire.

People's need to protect their own egos know no bounds. They will lie, cheat, steal, even kill, to do whatever it takes to maintain what we call ego boundries.

If Terri was upset about how silly she would look, her mother was completely undone. Seems she wanted Terri in her full natural bloom, not with any blooming flower.

I wasn't much good. When I went into the line on a fake - I would holler 'I don't have it!'

I don't care what the religion is called; as far as I'm concerned, one God, the God I adhere to, is in charge of all of them.

Avoidance of mistakes is the beginning, as it is the end, of mastery in chess.

Treat every Frenchman as if he was the devil himself.

You are perfectly entitled to invent your life and to claim that it's true.

I have always thought, "If the city cannot come to the country, then the country must come to the city."

The human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor.

I think change is always a good thing. Change keeps things moving.