and she's a nurse. do you know how hard nursing school is? it's like medical school. so she's obviously smart.

Nobody's trying to kill you, Deirdre. You're killing yourself.

You have an incredible body." He reaches out to touch my stomach. I feel no pleasure in his compliment or his touch, only impatience. This is the only feeling. I feel like the paper on which my mood chart is printed.

There's a lot about being "A Writer" that has nothing to do with writing. That's one thing I've discovered. You've got to meet with the sales force, and you've got to have all these luncheons, and be gracious, and you've got to give a lot of presentations and you've got to give a lot of speeches, and you've got to be on tour.

If you find you require willpower, you aren't ready to lose weight.

I like, though, that people have a hunger to connect with other people. They're desperate to know that you're not lying to them or misleading them.

[Christmas] holidays are a heavy, heavy time. We make light of them with our red and green and our stockings and candy canes, but people think heavy thoughts over the holidays because that's when you're thinking about family. Are we close? Or are we not as close as other people?