But children robbed of love will dwell on magic.

A person could spend most of a lifetime in retrospective terror, thinking of all the things one nearly didn't do.

Few people know so clearly what they want. Most people can't even think what to hope for when they throw a penny in a fountain.

Sugar, it's no parade but you'll get down the street one way or another, so you'd just as well throw your shoulders back and pick up the pace.

A miscarriage is a natural and common event. All told, probably more women have lost a child from this world than haven't. Most don't mention it, and they go on from day to day as if it hadn't happened, so people imagine a woman in this situation never really knew or loved what she had. But ask her sometime: how old would your child be now? And she'll know.

It takes some courage to write fiction about politically controversial topics. The dread is you'll be labeled a political writer.

I learned to produce whether I wanted to or not. It would be easy to say oh, I have writer's block, oh, I have to wait for my muse. I don't. Chain that muse to your desk and get the job done.