At that time I had recently finished a book called Amazing Grace which many people tell me is a very painful book to read. Well if it was painful to read it was also painful to write. I had pains in my chest for two years while I was writing that book.

President Clinton signed a $10 million deal to write a book by 2003. Isn't that amazing? Yes and get this not only that President Bush signed a $10 million deal to read a book by 2003.

Half a century ago the amazing courage of Rosa Parks the visionary leadership of Martin Luther King and the inspirational actions of the civil rights movement led politicians to write equality into the law and make real the promise of America for all her citizens.

I mean we've built a lot of products that we think are good and will help people share photos and share videos and write messages to each other. But it's really all about how people are spreading Facebook around the world in all these different countries. And that's what's so amazing about the scale that it's at today.

It's amazing if you know what you want to say how fast it is to write.

Write in recollection and amazement for yourself.

She can't even chew gum and walk in a straight line let alone write a book.

Largely this is a class thing - writers tend to be cosseted little middle-class kiddies who think that the world owes them a royalty cheque. But just doing it - being in your room for years on end locked in your head alone with invented ghosts - it weakens and softens the body. And I know I can't just live in my head.

I have Graham Greene's telephone number but I wouldn't dream of using it. I don't seek out writers because we all want to be alone.

I can't write without a reader. It's precisely like a kiss - you can't do it alone.