"Another woman approached me while I was having lunch at the Russian Tea Room in New York and told me..." — Sidney Sheldon

Writing novels is the most exciting.

The fact that my female characters have strong personalities but are also physically attractive probably reflects the women I've known in my life.

Stories had always been told about male genies coming out of bottles, but they were usually fat, old men. Never had the genie been a gorgeous woman, so that idea really appealed to me, and I created the series based on that premise.

I worked in Hollywood as a reader and a would-be writer for about 6 years before I sold my first story.