I was incredibly determined - I wrote short stories, I wrote the beginnings of novels. I wrote a little children's book and sent it to the editor-in-chief of the children's division of Simon and Schuster and she asked me to write a little children's book for a series she was doing.

I started writing about New York as soon as I arrived. I was 19. I used to write short stories and send them out.

You could say I lived the life, I wrote the book, and then it was made into a TV series starring Sarah Jessica Parker. (The character) would have been me about four or five years ago.

A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.

A short story I have written long ago would barge into my house in the middle of the night, shake me awake and shout, 'Hey,this is no time for sleeping! You can't forget me, there's still more to write!' Impelled by that voice, I would find myself writing a novel. In this sense, too, my short stories and novels connect inside me in a very natural, organic way.

I write short stories. I write every day.