I come from a family of teasers myself. My grandfather was from Liverpool, and he had a dry sense of humor, and he would tease us terribly. My brother Beau was so skilled in his teasing that he could get a rise out of me by simply pointing at me.

Although some people think I am a romantic novelist I have always thought of myself as a rather gritty radical historian.

I have an ambition to write a great book, but that's really a competition with myself. I've noticed that a lot of young writers, people in all media, want to be famous but they don't really want to do anything. I can't think of anything less worth striving for than fame.

I've always used poetry to explain myself to myself. These things just sat in my psyche and then came out.

I wouldn't call myself a shut-in. I have the ability to leave my home; I just choose not to. But because I'm such a homebody, it's important to be surrounded by things I love.

I always envisioned myself having a traditional and elegant wedding.

The world that I am coming from, hip-hop, is so regurgitated and repetitive that some people are used to that and they don't want change, they don't like change. And I get that, that's cool. Luckily for me, I'm confident in myself as an artist where I can do what I want, and as long as I'm cool with it, I'm cool with it.

I've always very earnestly tried to do my best, so I just have to trust that and forgive myself for being fallible.

I totally commit and completely give myself to a relationship. Be warned, though - I don't like being taken for granted, so I can be pretty high-maintenance sometimes!

I'm thankful for all the things that this job has given me and my family. But probably the thing that I am most proud of throughout my career is that, not only myself, but my family and the people around me have just been regular people, which we are.