I see that children fill the existential hollowness many people feel; that when we have children, we know they will need us, and maybe love us, but we don't have a clue how hard it is going to be.

We can't understand when we're pregnant, or when our siblings are expecting, how profound it is to have a shared history with a younger generation: blood, genes, humor. It means we were actually here, on Earth, for a time - like the Egyptians with their pyramids, only with children.

I go to church every Sunday, which is like going to the gas station once a week and really, really filling up.

I'm kind of a gossip hound, but watching the media whip the small fires into giant forest fires so that they can cover the result is infuriating.

One line of dialogue that rings true reveals character in a way that pages of description can't.

Gratitude, not understanding, is the secret to joy and equanimity.

I've written six novels and four pieces of nonfiction, so I don't really have a genre these days.