Writing what you wished was the most dangerous form of wishful thinking.

I love my daughter. She and I have shared my body. There is a part of her mind that is a part of mine. But when she was born, she sprang from me like a slippery fish, and has been swimming away ever since.

I saw what I had been fighting for: it was for me, a scared child.

Among writers, if you don't have a therapist, it's like saying you don't keep a journal or use the thesaurus. It's a natural accompaniment.

Whenever I'm with my mother, I feel as though I have to spend the whole time avoiding land mines.

You have to be your own person. You can't let people's opinions determine how you think about yourself. There's a difference between identity and self-identity.

I like to go somewhere where I learn something I didn't know before, like the Dry Tortugas between Florida and Cuba.