My father was a writer; I've known a lot of children of writers - daughters and sons of writers, and it can be a hard way to grow up.

Female adolescence is - universally - an emotionally and psychologically intense period.

My mother was very involved with Cesar Chavez's work on behalf of the migrant farm workers in California.

I used to teach at a private school, and the parents thought I loved their children. I did not love their children! I liked them well enough, but I was always delighted to see them go off for summer vacation.

What the altar-bound of today end up buying from their numberless vendors is a dog's breakfast of bridal excess - part society wedding of the twenties, part Long Island Italian wedding of the fifties. It's The Philadelphia Story and The Wedding Singer served up together in one curious and costly buffet.

Girls are really looking to places that have limits and boundaries: where adults are the adults and there are rules, and where they feel safe.

If you're a writer, you just keep following the path - keep going deeper and deeper into the things that interest you.