Women writers of all people should know better than to pigeonhole women, put them in little groups, the smart one, the sweet one.

Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness because if you do you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.

Choose the kids. There will be plenty of time later to choose work.

Downtime is where we become ourselves, looking into the middle distance, kicking at the curb, lying on the grass or sitting on the stoop and staring at the tedious blue of the summer sky. I don't believe you can write poetry, or compose music, or become an actor without downtime, and plenty of it, a hiatus that passes for boredom but is really the quiet moving of the wheels inside that fuel creativity.

Maybe I had three children in the first place so I wouldn't ever have to play board games. In my religion, martyrs die.

Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts.

Loss as muse. Loss as character. Loss as life.