Q: What made you want to write?

A: As a child I observed first-hand how aggravating a writing career could be. My mother wrote movies, books, radio and television but almost every day she had a dispute with an agent or producer.

Also, I had the impression that no one could write without simultaneously smoking. I was allergic to smoke.

Eventually I did admit to myself that I am incapable of describing any situation without making a story of it. Not everyone (my family) can hold still while hearing detailed descriptions so the only way to contend with my compulsion is to write.

Q: Who are your favorite writers?

A: My favorites change from day to day but over the years I’ve continuously loved Balzac, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and an almost forgotten writer named Peter De Vries. With each new book he writes, Philip Roth astounds me.

Q: What are the greatest influences on your writing?

A: While still a teenager I became a story analyst for the television division of Columbia Pictures. And over the last twenty years I’ve led dozens of book groups. This may be an odd thing to say but I’ve probably learned more about writing from the not-so-good novels. When I’m reading a great book I’m so thoroughly engaged, I forget to be analytical.

Q:Are your books autobiographical?

A: Very.

Q: How did your family react to your novels?

A: Since my mother is the comic villain of the Fleur De Leigh novels, I expected repercussions. No, she adores them. “I am their star,” she explains. At my book parties my mother has been known to sign my books!

Q. You are a partner in one of the top independent bookstores in the country. How does it feel to be both an author and a bookseller?

A: I’m extremely lucky. Writing is such a sequestered, delayed-gratification-occupation. But at the end of my writing day, I have the privilege of skateboarding down to Dutton’s Brentwood Books (five blocks away), and now our second store in Beverly Hills (ten blocks from my mother’s house) where I can participate in an on-going discussion of other writers’ oeuvres. I’m also in the extraordinary position of meeting--and being encouraged by--some of my readers.

Q: What advice can you give to aspiring writers?

A: Most of us need life experience and maturity before we can write well. Knowledge of subjects other than literature is immensely helpful. Having a gloomy childhood can be an asset. Never leave home without a book.