Sometimes we don't see out of our peripheral vision what's coming right around the corner.

I do a lot of mental work before I ever start writing.

When an actress takes off her clothes onscreen but a nursing mother is told to leave, what message do we send about the roles of women?

I really feel like I'm a liberal because I'm a Catholic, because I took the words of the New Testament to heart.

Your hair isn't quite right and maybe you're a size bigger than you should be and on and on and on. I think there comes a moment when you've matured to the point where you suddenly think, nonsense. I am fine just the way I am.

So I do think sometimes the political mechanism is completely disconnected from the people. However, what I will say is that history tells us that whenever things start to move too fast, whenever progress makes people feel a little breathless, one of the go-to spots that government, that the ruling powers that society goes to is to try to repress women.

I don't do research for my novels. Obviously, in my other line of work as a reporter and a columnist, I've had the opportunity to get to know both social workers and TV talk-show hosts.