When I was growing up, I had no idea that I could possibly become a writer. I wrote endlessly in journals - a practice I maintained for a long time, well into the writing life I had no idea I could ever have.

Our minds simply don't function in some sort of narrative chronology. I think that one of the great gifts of writing fiction is being able to think about that.

When I was growing up, I had no idea that I could possibly become a writer. I wrote endlessly in journals - a practice I maintained for a long time, well into the writing life I had no idea I could ever have.

How do we live the writer's life? There's only one simple answer: 'we write.'

There is no end to the promotion. There is no end to the possibilities. You can continue to promote a book for years, literally.

All there is to do, right at this very moment, is to breathe in, breathe out, and kiss the joy as it flies.

Strange - I'm not much of a film person. I love watching films, but they don't stay with me the way books do. Stranger still, because my husband is a screenwriter!