When the babies were very young, I found it difficult to write. I told myself each time that it would be different, I was used to it now, but with every child, for the first four months, I would accomplish nothing.

Whatever my intentions, whatever the truth of my claim, I had no business giving a lecture to a total stranger.

It's incredibly important to me that my children don't put anything in their bodies that they haven't tested first - that's how you end up dying.

When I was 15, what I wanted in a boyfriend was just that confidence and swagger. I wanted someone who knew what he was doing, because I was just faking it. What I want for my daughter is the exact opposite.

The biggest challenge for any craft person or artist is to accept the constraints of their medium and make something beautiful despite them. That's kind of fun, actually.

I tell myself that after four children my belly is already so stretched and flabby that I have to do origami to get my pants buttoned. One more pregnancy and I'd be doomed to elastic waists for the rest of my life.

You know, I feel like my job is to write a book. Then filmmakers come and they make a movie. And they're two really different art forms.