5 QUESTIONS FOR AUTHOR CATHERINE COULTER

It's hard to believe Catherine Coulter has written 65 novels and virtually every one of them has been a NY Times Bestseller.  It's been over a decade since she began her FBI Suspense Thriller series and her latest, "Whiplash," is due out June 15th. This will be the fourteenth novel in the series.  She's driven, goal-oriented and an avid football fan.  She's also a terrific sport to take time out of her busy schedule to play 5 questions with a loon like me.  Thanks Catherine.

1- After 59 NY Times bestsellers, do you still get jittery the night before a book is released?

No, I never get jittery before the book comes out, but on the Wednesday two weeks after the book is released -- half my brain is always focused on the call that will come that afternoon from the publisher to tell me if I hit #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List.

2- Are you competitive with your sales, trying to attain certain goals with each book?

Yes, my goal for a long time was to make #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List -- I've done that. My goal now is to stay at #1 on the list longer. You've always got to look up, always, because your publisher does.

3- Are you ever surprised at a reaction from fans about a particular scene or book you've written? Could you give an example?

I find myself both pleasantly surprised and Whoa! surprised, but it's never been about a single scene that I can recall, rather it's how the book has affected them personally, e.g., helped distract them through a bad time or really set them off because they hate a character, such as Blessed Backman, who, I swear, has a very polarized fan club -- those who really get off on his talent and how way-out there he is and those who think him a monster and scold me for creating him. It is fiction, I write. This is not about your next door neighbor.

4- You obviously love to write, but would you still write novels if you were the only one left on the planet and there were no readers?

If I were the only person left on the planet, I wouldn't be writing, I'd be trying to find a taco.

5- How did you become such a football fan?

I was raised on football, was a huge Cowboy fan (my folks were friends with Tom Landry) until I moved to San Francisco and learned the first requirement of a 49er fan was to hate the Cowboys. Not a problem.