Each one an antidote to the one that went before. Each one a reaction, an about-face, a rebound.

I know some good marriages-marriages where both people are just trying to get through their days by helping each other, being good to each other.

Before things are written down they don't exist in quite the same way. The act of fixing them in words gives them a kind of currency that can be traded.

Each day that I don't write I get more fragmented.

I was always a feminist. My mother was a feminist; my grandmother was a feminist. I always understood women had to fight very hard to do what they wanted to do in the world - that it wasn't an easy choice. But I think the most important part is that we all want the right to be taken seriously as human beings, and to use our talents without reservation, and that's still not possible for women.

Why does life need evidence of life?

Women tend to be preservers of the social structure, of marriage. They don't want to upset their husbands or their significant others. They don't want to hurt people.