All you needed is what every girl needs, a good friend. Someone to talk to, to share with, to run things by.

I began as a dramatist in the theater, so I'm always thinking about how a story moves, what it looks like, how to engage the senses, how dialogue sounds, what feels authentic and sounds real, what's funny, how to build distinctive and original characters - all the aspects of playwriting, scene-building, the architecture of dramatizing.

The most precious research to me came from the paperwork filed on behalf of my grandparents and great-grandfather. The ship's manifest showed that they could read and write. I am still emotional when I look at those boxes checked yes.

This is where men and women are different, we can put aside petty competition for relationships - they can't. It interferes.

Women move through the world never knowing their power.

The intimacy. The deepest level of love. The knowledge that someone understands you, is rooting for you, is sharing your life.

For a woman, love is the highest dream, and if a man promises to build a ladder tall enough to reach it, she believes him, hikes up her skirt, and follows him to the stars.