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.

But if you never did anything you couldn't undo you'd end up doing nothing at all.

I've always enjoyed studying the small clues that indicate a particular class level.

It’s like the grief has been covered over with some kind of blanket. It’s still there, but the sharpest edges are .. muffled, sort of. Then, ever now and then, I lift the corner of the blanket just to check, and .. whoa! Like a knife! I’m not sure that will ever change.

I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns

Not until the final draft do I force myself to remember that I'm going to have to think about how it will affect other people.

And I am interested in the fact that class is very much a factor in America, even though it's not supposed to be.