It's the same struggle for each of us, and the same path out: the utterly simple, infinitely wise, ultimately defiant act of loving one thing and then another, loving our way back to life.

Arterial-plaque specials that save minutes now can cost years, later on.

I love developing children as characters. Children rarely have important roles in literary fiction - they are usually defined as cute or precious, or they create a plot by being kidnapped or dying.

It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't.

When the scope of the problem seems insuperable, isn't it time to call this one, give it up, and get on with life as we know it. I do know that answer to that one: that's called child abuse. When my teenager worries that her generation won't be able to fix this problem, I have to admit to her that it won't be up to her generation. It's up to mine. This is a now-or-never kind of project.

Fiction is a sort of inter-human magic, allowing you to travel into a scene and feel it tingle on your skin.

The most assiduous task of parenting is to divine the difference between boundaries and bondage.