I expect that any day now, I will have said all I have to say; I'll have used up all my characters, and then I'll be free to get on with my real life.

I write because I want more than one life; I insist on a wider selection. It’s greed, plain and simple. When my characters join the circus, I’m joining the circus. Although I’m happily married, I spent a great deal of time mentally living with incompatible husbands.

(About parenting:) ... all that tedium, broken up by little spurts of high drama.

The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning

They were like people who run to meet, holding out their arms, but their aim is wrong; they pass each other and keep running.

Isn't a memorial service meant to comfort the living?

Liam really enjoyed a good movie. He found it restful to watch people's conversations without being expected to join in. But he always felt sort of lonesome if he didn't have someone next to him to nudge in the ribs at the good parts.