Sue Grafton

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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.