“I remember thinking that a girdle was barbaric, and that never in a mi...” — Susan Orlean Quote

I remember thinking that a girdle was barbaric, and that never in a million years would I treat myself like a sleeping bag being shoved into a stuff sack. Never! Instead, I would run marathons and work out and be in perfect shape and reject the tyranny of the girdle forever.

I teach a non-fiction writing class at New York University, and one of my great pleasures is deciding on the syllabus.

Every single one of my books had its title changed almost as we were going to press, for all sorts of different reasons.

I have no idea how to get in touch with anyone anymore. Everyone, it seems, has a home phone, a cell phone, a regular e-mail account, a Facebook account, a Twitter account, and a Web site. Some of them also have a Google Voice number. There are the sentimental few who still have fax machines.

I'm never without my personalised Anya Hindmarch diary - I keep my schedule online, too, but my diary is always in my bag. It's crammed Post-its.

Gunther and I always shared the work. Each of us carried his own sleeping bag and tent, and porters carried the rest, until the highest camp, when we were on our own. Nobody helped us up there.

I keep a stack of Hershey's in the house - just plain milk chocolate - so that if I'm having a craving, I can go eat half of one. I'm not bingeing out on, like, a massive one-pound bag of candy.

In the past 3-4 years I've developed a habit of keeping numerous small cassette recorders in my house and in a bag with me so that I'm able to commit to tape memory song ideas on a constant basis.