I tend to write some, then outline some, then delete some, then go back and rewrite some. I love revising and hate first drafts. I have to wear bedroom slippers. My current favorites come from the Zetter Hotel in London. They have little tobacco pipes on the toes.

My process has changed in recent years because I now have two young kids. I have to be more regimented. The days are very short.

Cam disappears at the end of 'Rapture.' It was the only way for me to say good-bye to him at the time, and it's the way he prefers to split, anyway. I always knew I would return to him. He's been my favorite from the start. Readers have long asked what happened to him, but I had to wait for his story to come to me on its own.

Alicia Silverstone from 'Clueless' plays the role of the quintessential buttoned-up beauty who still knows how to throw down. She's intimidating from a distance but happy to befriend the new girl and show her the lay of the land.

Steve McQueen from 'The Getaway' is tough and independent. He can be diffident but is unabashed when it comes to love. And he's undeniably sexy.

Olivia Hussey from Zefferelli's 'Romeo and Juliet' makes the intense vulnerability of true love look magnificent.

I believe love's grip transcends gender. It transcends everything short of a very few primal needs like hunger, thirst, a need for oxygen.

It's worth pointing out that no one faults a male protagonist for falling in love. What is it about a boy needing a girl that seems to round out his character, while a girl needing a boy can be dismissed as pathetic?

At some point, I fell in love. Shortly thereafter, I got my heart broken. Sniff, sniff. And I realized at a young age - no matter what any adult literary critic would have us believe about female strength and autonomy - there is no test to strength of character like love.

Occasionally I volunteer in the kitchen of a pop-up supper club in L.A., which I really love. It's like being a line cook in a great restaurant for one night at a time.