I don't type [when I write] because . . . I often have the feeling that everything flows directly from my right hand.

My stories are never quite good enough

I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.

I can never tell ahead of time which book will give me trouble - some balk every step of the way, others seem to write themselves - but certainly the mechanics of writing, finding the time and the psychic space, are easier now that my children are grown.

I save the best of myself for novels, and I believe it shows

People always talked about a mother's uncanny ability to read her children, but that was nothing compared to how children could read their mothers.

Women were the ones that held the reins, it emerged.