Of the first seven novels I wrote, numbers four and five were published. Numbers one, two, three, six, and seven, have never seen the light of day... and rightly so.

Ideas are easy. It's the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats.

Books are like movies of the mind and it's better to leave Kinsey where she is.

I'm not sure Kinsey has changed in these first twelve books. I think the reader learns more about her, but from Kinsey's perspective, only three years have passed while the rest of us have been getting older at a much faster clip.

I don't want to write formula. I don't want to crank these books out like sausages. Every book is different, which takes a hell of a lot of ingenuity on my part.

I spent the first twenty years of my writing career preparing for the mystery genre, which is my favorite literary form.

Kinsey was never a lawyer. She's strictly blue collar.

I focus on the writing and let the rest of the process take care of itself. I've learned to trust my own instincts and I've also learned to take risks.

I've never written about my husband, Steve, or any of my children because I know them all too well. I see them in all their complexities which makes them impossible to render on the printed page.

Having reached the halfway mark in the alphabet, my prime focus is on writing each new book as well as I can.

We all need to look into the dark side of our nature - that's where the energy is, the passion. People are afraid of that because it holds pieces of us we're busy denying.

I started writing seriously when I was 18, wrote my first novel when I was 22, and I've never stopped writing since.

The truth is, I could no more dictate her nature than she could dictate mine. Kinsey's happy as she is and she doesn't need to be rescued, improved, or saved.

The character of Rosie is based on a woman who used to live in the same apartment building I lived in many years ago. She's taken on a life of her own, of course.

Of the first seven novels I wrote, numbers four and five were published. Numbers one, two, three, six, and seven, have never seen the light of day... and rightly so.

I was an English major in college with minors in Fine Arts and Humanities.

At that point, I sat down and made an alphabetical list of all the crime related words I could think of. So here I am now, nearly half-way through, probably tied up until the year 2015 or SO.

Henry is entirely invented though by now I feel he's as real as anyone I know.

I attended the University of Louisville my freshman year, transferred to what was then Western Kentucky State Teachers College for my sophomore and junior years, and then graduated from the University of Louisville in the summer of 1961.

My primary lesson, however, was that I'm a solo writer, happiest when I'm making all the executive decisions. I've always been willing to rise or fall on my own merits.

After my years in Hollywood, I got tired of apologizing for work that really wasn't mine to begin with.

If high heels were so wonderful, men would be wearing them.

I love being single. It's almost like being rich.

Thinking is hard work, which is why you don't see many people doing it.

When all else fails cleaning house is the perfect antidote to most of lifes ills.

Everything happens for a reason but that doesnt mean theres a point.

Ideas are easy. Its the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats.

Ive never known anyone yet who doesnt suffer a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around... Were all eight years old again and anything is possible.

If high heels were so wonderful men would be wearing them.

In my opinion, there's no condition in life that can't be ameliorated by a dose of junk food.

You try to keep life simple but it never works, and in the end all you have left is yourself.

Pay minimum wage, you get minimum work. Nobody seems to get that.

Poise and indifference so often look the same.

It is a truth of human nature that we can ponder life's mysteries for only so long before we lose interest and move on to something else.

Some people can't see the color red. That doesn't mean it isn't there.

I know there are people who believe you should forgive and forget. For the record, I'd like to say I'm a big fan of forgiveness as long as I'm given the opportunity to get even first.

I did work out every day. I needed it to have the endurance to do what needed to be done and not get hurt. I have such a new respect for action stars now.

I mean the only thing that is hopefully good about us is after the arguments we can actually still face each other the next day or the day after and talk about something else and sort of get over it.

My favorite singer to this day is Nat King Cole. I've tried to emulate his phrasing. It is so absolutely beautiful to listen to his lovely voice.

I want to have babies one day but not right now. When I do it I want to do it really well. I want it to be my best project in life.

I think I've become a much better singer and a much better player. Years and years of playing a couple of hours every day will do that.

I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.

I just wrote one song at a time. Kinda like an alcoholic. One day at a time.

Working mothers do an hour more per day than working fathers do and working mothers do on average an hour more per day with the kids than working fathers do.

When it is time to get to work, I go away completely and don't do anything except the work. And that can be 16 hours a day.

George Pal had total control, and he was there on the set every day. You never met a more charming man in your entire lifetime - what a lovely gentleman.

I'll tell you what I did need to learn was tolerance, and I think I've been actually given a daily opportunity to practice that, and it's - it's - and I know that that sounds almost like a backhanded slap, and it is in a way because I haven't been successful at it every day.

Since the beginning, I always loved the game. When you grow up in Montreal, one day you want to be a professional hockey player. When I was six or seven, I knew that was what I wanted.

Depending on what day of the week it is and what time of the month it is, I'm a good friend or not a good friend. I'm more or less a good mom or not a good mom, more or less a good mate or not a good mate. That's just life, whether or not you're public.